SCOTTISH Rugby has announced the appointment of two specialist skills coaches, both of whom will work with specific players in the women’s and men’s national teams as well as age-grade and academy players.

Former Scotland hooker Scott Lawson will look after throwing, while Craig Dods, currently a development officer with Gala, will be a specialist kicking coach.

Lawson, who won 47 caps between 2005 and 2018, was a Glasgow player for five years before moving to England, where he turned out for Sale, Gloucester, London Irish and finally Newcastle Falcons. Since retiring from playing, he has worked as an assistant coach for Scotland Under-20s, and is moving to Murrayfield from his current positions as director of rugby at St Andrews University and forwards coach with Stirling County’s Super6 side. Both he and Dods will start their new jobs in the high-performance department next month and report to Kenny Murray, the governing body’s head of player transition.

“Since retiring from playing four years ago I have been fortunate to have developed my coaching in a number of great environments,” Lawson said. “I’m very grateful to the University of St Andrews and Stirling County. 

“However, the opportunity to work with Scottish Rugby has come at the perfect time for me. I’m looking forward to working with Kenny Murray and the rest of the team to further develop the next generation of Scottish players.”

Dods, the son of former Scotland full-back Peter Dods, was head of women’s rugby in Hungary for two seasons. He will work alongside Chris Paterson in his new role.

“Kicking has been a passion of mine from a young age,” he said. “So I’m excited that this role will allow me the scope to work with players on an individual basis to really drill down into improving their kicking, whilst helping other coaches improve their delivery of Scotland’s national principles too.”