Bryan Easson, who did such a fine job as Scotland women’s head coach before departing after last year’s Rugby World Cup, will be at Murrayfield on Saturday to watch the home side take on England at Murrayfield (1.30pm, live on BBC).
The Six Nations round two game is set to be playing in front of a record crowd of 25,000 plus and Easson will be able to sit back in the stadium safe in the knowledge that he played a part in helping grow the women’s game in this country to such levels of popularity.
Under his stewardship from 2020 to 2025, Scotland went from number 13 to a high of five in the world, went on a record run of victories, won WXV 2 in 2023 and reached the World Cups in 2021 [played in 2022] and 2025 and reaching the knock-out stages at the latter one in England.
That just scratches the surface in terms of the influence he had, but now he has moved on and has a new challenge to focus on as he is the head coach of Netherlands men and head of performance coaching with the governing body in that country.
He recently led a young men’s squad to a seventh-place finish in the Rugby Europe Championship as the cycle to try and qualify for the 2031 World Cup gets underway while the Netherlands women’s squad have a Championship title decider with Spain this weekend in Amsterdam which is promising. During the men’s Championship event, Easson capped 18 new players and the average age of the squad was 22 as their top French based players were unavailable.
“To have this long-term project and a completely new project to get my teeth into is exciting,” Easson, who this week has been helping ex-Scotland prop WP Nel coach youngsters in Dunbar such is his passion for rugby, said.
“When I was with Scotland I learned lots about building a programme and I suppose there are similarities here in the fact that I am now working with a men’s team that wants to grow just like Scotland women wanted to.
“The Netherlands men’s team is a team that is wanting to go up in the world rankings and it’s a team that wants to progress. I’ve got experience of doing that and helping teams do that so it’s now about taking the learnings that I’ve had, putting them into this programme and then kicking on as well because the ambition is to go to the 2031 World Cup.
“It is good to have had the Rugby Europe Championship together recently as a national team group because we know where we are working from now. We have the starting point and I am excited to see where we can go from here.
“And what really enthuses me about the men’s head coach role in the Netherlands – and the head of performance coaching – is that there is so many good athletes in the country and there are so many people on and off the pitch willing to work hard to see rugby grow and grow.
“My time with Scotland women is something that I can take a lot of pride from and it was something that I thoroughly enjoyed, but I have always been someone who looks forward and doesn’t dwell on things. For now my focus is on the Netherlands, but of course I’ll always be a Scotland fan and want the women to do well and flourish.”
- Over 25,000 tickets have been sold for Scotland-England, join in the fun by getting tickets here – before the senior game at 1.30pm at Murrayfield the under-21 sides from both countries are meeting at Hive Stadium at 11am.
Bryan Easson in pictured – thanks to Rugby Netherlands
The Women’s Six Nations is here and the 2026 event runs from April 11 to May 17 and, between April 6 and May 20, GH Media will be covering Scotland’s campaign and the wider tournament – keep an eye out for content and thanks to everyone who supports GH Media’s work within women’s rugby