Scottish Rugby’s regional coaching conferences came to a close this weekend having reached a record number of Scottish coaches across the country.

The conferences in Edinburgh, Caledonia, the Borders & East Lothian and Glasgow & The West saw a total of 226 coaches attend to hear from some of rugby’s top coaches.

Last year’s National Coaching Conference saw 160 coaches from across Scotland attend but this year’s attendances in the four regions marked a 40 per cent increase on last year’s record-breaking numbers.

Highlights from the conferences included Scotland Head Coach Gregor Townsend presenting on attacking principles at the Edinburgh conference and Scotland centurion Sean Lamont leading indoor and practical sessions at the Caledonia and Glasgow conferences respectively.

Scotland U18 Head Coach, Iain Monaghan, spoke on skill acquisition at the Glasgow & the West conference while Scotland Women Defence Coach, Ciaran Beattie, presented at the Borders and Caledonia conferences.

Keynote speakers, Richard Shuttleworth and Brian Ashton MBE,each gave presentations at two of the four conferences.

Shuttleworth, who has been involved in elite coaching for more than two decades with organisations including the RFU and Super Rugby, spoke at the Edinburgh and Caledonia conferences.

Ashton,who coached England to the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final and was instrumental in establishing England’s Junior and Senior National Academies, gave presentations on authenticity as a coach at the Borders & East Lothian and the Glasgow & the West conferences.

He said:“Challenging and smart coaching is a key area of developing players at grass roots level and continuing to do so at every level of the game.

It is very important, crucial in fact, that coaches at each level engage with one another.

“This helps to avoid a development disconnect and promote a unity of purpose across the coaching community.”

The four conferences were delivered in partnership with the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy regions and all involved practical and indoor sessions, continuing the focus on Scottish Rugby’s Technical Blueprint, ‘The Scottish Way’, which aims to develop a quality game through a core set of principles based around rugby speed.