Danny Wilson in Wasps U-turn as former Cardiff Blues coach agrees to join Gregor Townsend’s Scotland set-up

The Scottish Rugby Union have agreed a deal with Wasps to spring him from his recently-signed contract, leaving the Premiership club without a forwards coach for the new season

Danny Wilson will not join Wasps after agreeing a deal with Scotland (Getty)

Wasps have suffered a large blow ahead of the new Premiership season after it was announced that incoming forwards coach Danny Wilson will no longer join up with the club, having agreed to take up a similar role with Gregor Townsend’s Scotland set-up instead.

“This is a big disappointment for us,” said Wasps director of rugby Dai Young, who is now without an assistant coach in a key area two months before the 2018/19 season begins.

“In addition, the timing could not be much worse. Finding someone of Danny’s quality and experience who is available at this time of year to supplement our existing coaching team is a difficult proposition.

“Disappointing as this is, I understand that the opportunity to coach a tier one international side through to and beyond the World Cup would always be difficult to turn down as opportunities like this do not come around very often.”

The news comes little more than a month since Wilson guided Cardiff Blues to the European Challenge Cup final victory that capped a remarkable resurgence, having suffered a bad start to the season. In what proved to be a thrilling encounter in Bilbao, Cardiff clinched a last-gasp 31-30 victory against Gloucester to give Wilson a triumphant send-off, having already agreed to join Young’s team at the Richoh Arena.

But this late twist will now take Wilson further north than initially thought, with Scotland head coach Townsend bringing him into his backroom team to replace Ulster-bound Dan McFarland ahead of their final season to prepare for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to secure Danny’s services and would like to thank Wasps and Dai Young for enabling that to happen,” Townsend said after revealing that the Scottish Rugby Union came to a financial agreement to spring Wilson from his contract.

“Danny has a lot of technical knowledge around the scrum, the lineout and the contact area, which is primarily the role he’ll perform in our coaching set-up.

“He also brings much more to our group through his experience as a head coach at senior club level and U20 level, helping teams and individuals reach their potential.

“We’re coming into a period where we’ll have more time with the players, particularly in the build-up to Rugby World Cup 2019, and I believe he’ll have a really positive impact on an already really good group of forwards and continue to make that a strength for Scotland.”

McFarland was due to head to Ulster in January but could now be in place for the start of the season, while Wilson will link up with Scotland from August once they have returned from their tour of the United States.

“To coach international rugby and go to a Rugby World Cup is obviously the pinnacle of the sport and the goal of most professional coaches. It was therefore a huge honour to be identified by Scotland and offered this role,” said Wilson. “This has obviously been a little unexpected and happened very quickly, so I’d like to thank Dai Young and Wasps for their consideration and understanding of this situation and wish them the very best of luck for the future.”