Family first for MacPhee as Clarke praises departed coach

Steve Clarke praised Austin MacPhee who has stepped down as Scotland's set-piece coach due to family reasons.

The Aston Villa set-piece specialist is going to spend more time with his ill father and has left his national team role after three years to do so.

"First of all, it's a big blow for us that Austin's stepped aside," said Clarke.

"But it's a bigger blow for Austin and his family obviously. He's got difficult times ahead and we certainly wish them well, especially his father who's going to have a tough time. Hopefully that works out for them.

"Austin was great for me, he took a lot of workload away with the set-plays as well as being a proficient coach, he reads the game well.

"We always have good conversations and he's a Scotland fan. It was great to have his enthusiasm in and around the camp. He felt every defeat badly and he felt every win fantastically, so he's a big miss for us.

"Short-term, it's difficult to bring in a like-minded replacement. We'll utilise the coaches that I've got. I'm going to use another analyst, a set-piece analyst. We'll see what we can come up with this camp and assess the situation as we go along."