Former Scotland international joins Bristol coaching team

Former Scotland international Alasdair Dickinson has joined Bristol Bears as the club's new scrum coach. Dickinson joins Pat Lam's coaching team on a three-year deal.

Dickinson, who was capped 58 times for Scotland and played in three Rugby World Cups, has worked as a scrum coach with Scotland Women, Scotland U20s and the Scottish Rugby Academies since retiring in 2018.

Dickinson, 36, represented Edinburgh, Gloucester and Sale during a 15-year professional career, making his Scotland debut against New Zealand in 2007.

Bristol's Director of Rugby Pat Lam said: "After a lengthy and thorough process, we’re delighted to bring Alasdair onboard as the standout candidate for the scrum coach role.

"Alasdair is a young coach with huge ability and a hunger to develop himself into a world class scrum coach. He’s played at the very highest level and has a detailed understanding of the set piece and how it can be a destructive weapon for the team.

"We’re proud of the progress we have made with our set piece and our ambition is to have the most dominant scrum in the Gallagher Premiership."

Dickinson said: "The opportunity to join a club like Bristol is massive for me and I’m grateful to Pat for putting his faith in me.

"I’ve been impressed by the environment and vision of the Bears and clearly everything is in place for the club to push forward over the next few years.

"I have ambitions to be world class in my field and have already learned so much during my time coaching with Scotland.

"The quality of the Bears forward unit – with a blend of experience and really exciting young players – is outstanding and I’m looking forward to working with the group, continuing to develop that pack mentality and helping to take Bears to the next level."