In the wake of their Pro Cup defeat by the Borders on Tuesday, Kiwi Searancke, their head coach, admitted to serious concern at the prospect of losing Steve Anderson, the backs coach who was appointed with him in the summer following the departure of the previous head coach Richie Dixon to Murrayfield.
Searancke has repeatedly made clear his view that the quality of the squad they inherited is not good enough. Following the Netherdale defeat he acknowledged that the scope for importing players was limited and said he was keen to identify young domestic talent, but he knows that cannot be done without a mechanism for developing players. "I am bemused as to why we don't have an academy," Searancke told The Herald.
The likely departure of Anderson, whose job was initially supposed to include getting the youth system running, has left him at a loss. "I'm losing one of the better men in my organisation who was supposed to be setting up the academy, so where do I go now?" Searancke said. "Steve has told me he has been approached but no-one from the SRU has talked to me about it."
Anderson's various previous jobs included a lengthy spell with the Kangaroos, Australia's near-invincible national rugby league team. Highly regarded by Ian McGeechan, he could even have an outside chance of taking over from him as Scotland coach later this year although the job Anderson is expected to take up right now, is understood to be that of performance specialist.