The saga of Alan Tait’s role as Scotland’s defence coach reached a conclusion yesterday when he announced that he was leaving to take up a job with Newcastle Falcons. Tait’s departure to a post that will broaden his coaching experience means that Frank Hadden, the Scotland head coach, has now lost both his assistants. It could force the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) into wholesale changes at both professional club and representative levels.

In going, Tait, who had been side-lined after the RBS Six Nations Championship but was then reinstated for the summer tour to Argentina, made it clear that it was the chance to expand his experience that led to his decision.

“My attitude as a coach is very similar to what motivated me as a player – I want to be the best,” he said. “If one day I’m to be the head coach of Scotland I need to get much more day-to-day coaching experience and test myself in the Guinness Premiership.

“I’m not moving for money. The role that Scottish Rugby offered me – where I was to be working on defence duties with the national team, the Edinburgh pro-team and other representative sides – was attractive but I’ve opted to join Newcastle because I feel that at this stage of my coaching career it is what I need.”

Tait is not leaving until after the Argentina tour, where Sean Lineen and Andy Robinson, the head coaches at Glasgow and Edinburgh, respectively, have been drafted in as Hadden’s helpers. They would struggle to coach both club and country during the autumn internationals and next year’s Six Nations, so regardless of whether Hadden keeps his job after the tour, the specialist coaching positions will still need to be filled.

Gary Mercer, at Glasgow, is the only defence specialist apart from Tait in the Scottish professional game, while apart from Robinson, Shade Munro, also at Glasgow, is the only specialist forwards coach north of the Border, though there could also be a move for the likes of Carl Hogg, who has been building his knowledge with Gloucester.

Any shifting of roles upwards or sideways would also give the SRU a chance to get the likes of Craig Chalm-ers and Cammie Mather involved in professional coaching, a move that is long overdue but increasingly tough with only two full-time outlets to blood the next generation of coaches.

Meanwhile, the injury spate that has hit the senior squad travelling to Argentina has had its predictable effect on the A team, which has had to call up four players from the sevens squad, including Jim Thomson, Bill McLaren’s grandson, the day after he signed for Edinburgh. There are also call-ups for Stuart Corsar, of Rother-ham, and Tommy McGee, of Leeds, to fill the prop vacancies.

However, the A team has suffered a blow of its own, with Marcus Di Rollo failing to persuade Toulouse to release him for the Churchill Cup competition in North America. He has made only one brief appearance all season after the French club decided that a minor heart condition he suffers from makes it too dangerous for him to play. England XV