'Serious injury gave me freedom' - Brown

Former Scotland hooker Fraser Brown says the way his playing career ended helped him make the move into coaching.

Brown - who made 141 appearances for Glasgow and won 61 Scotland caps during his career - suffered a serious knee injury in May 2023 and did not play again before retiring at the end of last season.

The 35-year-old is working as forwards coach for Scotland Women after stints with Glasgow Warriors' women's side and Watsonians, and he is excited at where his coaching career might lead.

"Retiring isn't easy; retiring injured is particularly difficult," Brown said.

"The benefit for me was having a long-term injury and probably knowing from quite a way out. I had a lot of time, a year to go and coach in different environments - Glasgow in the Celtic Challenge, head coach at Watsonians.

"Having such a serious injury gave me the freedom to go and get coaching experience.

"It's not nice retiring but there's always the next part of your journey. It was tough right at the start and the more I knew where I wanted to go post-playing, the more exciting it became.

"It didn’t turn into one of those 'end of the road' type of things, it was just 'How can I use this for what I want to do next?'."