Jim Mallinder & Professor Jason Leitch

13 May 2020

There are two debuts on the Official Scottish Rugby Podcast this week - Scottish Rugby's new Performance Director, Jim Mallinder talks about his journey to Edinburgh, while Scottish Government's National Clinical Director, Jason Leitch talks rugby and gives an update on COVID-19.

Jim Mallinder has only been in his new role at BT Murrayfield for four months and now in his first broadcast interview since moving to Edinburgh, he talks to Al Kellock, Chris Paterson and Jamie McMillan about his playing days, as well as his transition into coaching. He also gives his assessment of rugby in Scotland and talks about what he believes he can bring to the game north of the border.

“I’m looking forward to watching Super6 and some of the other club rugby because that is really, really important. In terms of developing these players we’ve talked about the Academy and bringing them through, they need a competition which is as close to the top level as we possibly can. We need to really, really encourage things like the Super6…where we can see them playing and developing.” – Jim Mallinder

A household name in Scotland in recent weeks, Professor Jason Leitch presents the Scottish Government’s health messaging on television and across the media advising the public on the steps to take to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an exclusive interview on The Official Scottish Rugby Podcast, Jason talks about his love of rugby and his trips to watch Scotland at BT Murrayfield and Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun. He also talks in-depth about when and how rugby can return in Scotland.

“The clubs are going to have to be patient. We will absolutely do it as quickly as we can (allow sports to resume) and it will clearly be staged so individual training outdoors will come back before scrums.” – Jason Leitch

Hear the full episode below:



The Scottish Rugby Official Podcast can be downloaded from PodBean, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Acast, and you can subscribe to get it downloaded automatically to your device each time an episode is released.

Tune in to The Official Scottish Rugby Podcast next week for more exclusive behind the scenes interviews and information, news and discussion from the home of Scottish Rugby.

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