Hadden pays for poor Six Nations

Scotland begin search for new head coach as captain blames players for failures

The Scotland captain Mike Blair had claimed Hadden received the full support of his squad and laid the blame for the poor results at the feet of the players. "It's individual basic errors that are letting the opposition into the game," he said. "That's not something the coaching staff can deal with. That's for the players to deal with."

Hadden, who was appointed to the post in 2005 as successor to the Australian Matt Williams, has not been dumped completely by the Scottish Rugby Union, however, in a footnote to the press release it was made clear that, "discussions are ongoing with Frank Hadden in relation to his future with Scottish Rugby."

The statement from the SRU said that Hadden had "stepped down" from his post, and Gordon McKie, Scottish rugby's chief executive, said: "Following a presentation at today's Scottish Rugby Board, covering a review of the Scotland performance in the RBS Six Nations Championship, it was agreed with Frank Hadden that a change in head coach is required to allow us to plan fully for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand."

Twickenham celebrates its centenary as the headquarters of England rugby with a thunderous opening to the 2010 Six Nations – against Wales – a repeat of the first fixture to be staged on what was known as Billy Williams' "Cabbage Patch" on 15 January 1910. That first match at the one-time allotment, hence its nickname, saw England emerge as 11-6 winners.

Robin McBryde, who is standing-in as Wales' head coach while Warren Gatland is involved with the British and Irish Lions' tour to South Africa this summer, yesterday greeted the news with a word of warning: "An opening clash with England is always going to be tough."

Wales follow that with two home fixtures, the second of which is on Friday 26 February against France. The two played in the inaugural Friday fixture in February resulting in a 21-16 win for the French.