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Scott Johnson was today appointed head coach of the Ospreys, and so yet another stop on the Circle Line of his coaching career is set. Maybe this time, we will discover if he really is any good, and if the reverence in which he is held in some parts of rugby, but not others, is appropriate.

He is certainly under pressure. The Ospreys have an enormous budget, an enormous squad, an enormous stadium and potentially, enormous support. There are no excuses for them and Johnson is the man who must lift them so that their traditionally reasonable results are turned into the pot-hunting bonanza that they crave.

No coach in my experience occasions such debate. During the Welsh Grand Slam of 2005, he was a remarkable figure, wandering up and down the touchlines, bawling at the players and receiving afterwards the almost awed praise of skipper Gareth Thomas and the inner cabal of Welsh players.

He had a very brief go at being the Welsh supremo but was soon on his way back to his native Australia, where he was part of a coaching set-up under John Connolly which notably failed to set the world alight. He then moved on to become coach of the USA Eagles, where he appeared, at least, to be bringing about an improvement of sorts.

But he has left controversy along the way. There were those who felt that his contribution to the Welsh team lay more in genuine friendships he made with players rather than general improvement he made to them as players.

A colleague in that coaching hierarchy with Wales was Alun Carter, whose recent book, Seeing Red, is a whole lot less than lukewarm when discussing Johnson’s contribution. Indeed, Carter is not the only one who believes that a certain amount of inside intrigue, perhaps even disloyalty, led to the departure of Mike Ruddock, the Grand Slam coach. If Johnson is indeed an outstanding skills coach or attack coach – and even that is in the balance – then what he has never proved himself to be is an effective supremo, calling all the shots.

The Ospreys have often made odd appointments, and this latest is definitely in the curious category. It is a gamble. If Johnson is the coach that some deem him to be, then the Ospreys will win the Heineken Cup in every year of the next ten. If he is not, then the next stop on the Circle Line awaits.

Don’t mention the rugby

Some weeks ago, I am afraid that I annoyed lots of Kiwis. No, I didn’t make fun of that prancing, posing, preening old wreck called the Haka or consult a professor in medieval history to try to recall when they last won the World Cup. Nor did I speculate as to why Kiwis call each other “bro” or why they never admit they are raping rugby in the Pacific Islands.

But I did point out that the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand 2011 will be played in a lot of one-horse towns and even one-gerbil hamlets. And also in other towns which would be one-horse towns had not the horse clip-clopped away to the knackers yard.

After this item appeared, I was summoned to meet Martin Sneddon, chief executive of the New Zealand organising committee and former cricketer, whose chief claim to fame, according to an informed source (his own), was filling in and trying not to get hammered when Richard Hadlee, New Zealand’s greatest (and only) bowler, was resting between spells.