Ex-Melrose man Pete Horne joins Scotland national rugby squad’s coaching team for Six Nations

Pete Horne during a Glasgow Warriors training session in September last year (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/Glasgow Warriors)

Glasgow Warriors skills coach Horne, 33, and former All Blacks assistant Brad Mooar have been drafted in following the departure earlier this month of AB Zondagh, only appointed as the Scots’ attack coach in August last year.

Horne, previously head coach at Fosroc Super6 Championship side Ayrshire Bulls, has been coaching at Warriors since June last year and will continue in that post with the Scotstoun club, potentially ruling him out for the latter part of the Six Nations.

“There are going to be two people supporting me,” said former Gala and Border Reivers player Townsend, 49. “I will still be coaching more of the attack.

“Pete Horne is going to come in. He has a couple of areas he is going to work with. He has done really well with Glasgow, and he is still with Glasgow but they don’t play for the first two rounds.

“I don’t know how long Pete will be with us because they have to go to South Africa when we play France, but he will be around for the first two weeks.

“Brad Mooar is coming in for the whole championship. Brad was the Scarlets’ head coach and was with the All Blacks until August.

“He will come in on a consultancy role and we will see what that looks like.

“He will be contributing to our coaching group, working with players.

“Brad comes with head coach experience but also an attack mindset. There are areas where he can help us as a group.”

Townsend’s back-room team also includes forwards coach John Dalziel, defence coach Steve Tandy and scrum coach Pieter de Villiers.

The Borderer has yet to decide if Aberdeen-born Horne, at Melrose for the 2009-10 season, and Mooar, 48, will be part of his coaching team for the Rugby World Cup kicking off in October in France.

Horne, elder brother of current Scottish international George Horne, was capped for Scotland at stand-off or centre 45 times between 2013 and 2021.

Scotland, captained by Edinburgh’s Jamie Ritchie and featuring Hawick’s Stuart Hogg and Rory Sutherland in their initial 40-man squad, begin their Six Nations campaign away to England on Saturday, February 4.