London Scottish is to appoint a new Head Coach to take over from Peter Richards at the end of the season.

The former England scrum-half and London Irish Academy coach joined Scottish in 2014 as Backs Coach and a year later took over as Head Coach. 

“After a happy three years here, I felt it was time for a new challenge.” Said Richards who confirmed he is looking at a number of offers from within English rugby and from abroad.

Incoming Chief Executive Carson Russell said: “Peter has done a terrific job to put out a competitive and very young side playing attractive rugby, often against sides with budgets many times the size of ours.”

He added: “I foresee that many of the players he has worked with will go on to greater things in the game – already we’ve lost Callum Hunter-Hill to Scotland U20s captaincy and Ally Miller to the Scotland Sevens.”

With Director of Rugby Sean Lineen and Forwards Coach John Dalziel returning to Scotland after a period on secondment from Scottish Rugby, Russell is now sifting applications from coaches looking for full-time and part-time opportunities.