Late May the San Diego Legion announced Scott Murray and Zack Test as co-head coaches.

Murray had a storied playing career, playing professionally for 17 years for the English Premiership and French League. He also represented the Scotland National Team in 87 caps.

Test played professionally for 10 years and represented the United States in the Olympics and the Rugby World Cup. He suffered a career ending injury in 2017 and immediately began his coaching career.

Earlier this week I was able to connect with the new coaches to ask them a few questions.

Q: Congratulations to both of you. What sparked your interest and what got you into coaching?

Scott: I played professionally for 17 years, I just kind of got into coaching. We had a coach in France, he was quite crazy, as most coaches in France are, so the owners and the boys had a vote and put me in charge of the forwards and then I took over the season after. So, it kind of happened by accident, it wasn’t something probably I wanted to do yet, but it happened a lot quicker than I wanted it to, I wanted to play a little bit longer. Did all my credentials in Paris and did three years of coaching in France. I though we were living the dream, me and my wife who is American, and she wanted to go home. I came to the States and got proper job for a while, which wasn’t really good, so I’ve tasted real life, I don’t really like it. Got back into coaching, one of the best jobs in America coaching the Legion.

Zack: I didn’t have 17 career years, I only had 10. In 2017 I suffered a career ending injury, knee to the head, nearly killed me. So I could no longer play the game and I was working up in the Bay area and just started helping out with my local club team that I played for in High School. Then when I came back to San Diego, I took on the San Diego State 7’s job and just fell in love with coaching and inspiring young athletes to grow and be successful and just caught the bug. Then came on with the Legion year one as the backs coach and love every second of it. And like he [Scott] said it’s the best job in America.

Q: Zack, you have been with the team all three years. What have you seen as the constant improvement that we have seen all three years?

Zack: I think it’s just the growth on all fronts. The fan base is getting better, the TV coverage is getting better. The players and play is getting better. The whole standard of the league and rugby in the states has just grown expediently year in and year out. To a point where the games last year were exciting, interactive brilliant rugby games and I think it’s only going to get better and better and better. And the fact that the US sports market is one of the hottest in the world and I think that rugby is on a great trajectory.

Q: Scott, you’ve been with the Legion for two years as well. For both of you, what did Rob mean to you and your development into becoming head coaches.

Scott: Rob was relentless, I mean his work ethic and the amount time and effort that he put into what he did was incredible. And so he just kind of opened my eyes, because when you are coaching in France they’re probably not as professional as they could be. Which is sometimes good but it’s some time there’s things you can learn from both. He helped me in terms of being more professional in what I was doing and just inspired me to work harder.

Zack: Like he said, his relentless work rate was contagious. I came in year one bright eyed and bushy tailed not really knowing what I thought I should know and he kind of took me under his wing and taught me all the different assets that you need to have as a coach. They were so valuable to me and he was phenomenal.

Q: How does co-head coaching work? If there’s a situation to either run the ball out or get down in the trenches, who gets to make that decision?

Scott: Well, it’s not really like that. What I do and what Testy does is completely different. I’m a forward and he’s a back, I do set piece, contact, he does attack and defense. Obviously if we see something we’ll talk to each other, but more often than not we both know what we’re meant to do, we know our roles and it works well.

Zack: Definitely, me and Scotty had a great relationship as assistant coach playing off each other swapping ideas. Like he said, we actually do see the game as the same view. But also having his ability to see from the forward spot and he comes to me seeing from the backs, the attack defense kind of aspect. We are very much in synch in a lot of what we do. It can show from our golf game, when he hits a good shot, I hit a good one right after him and if he hits a bad one I’m going to hit a bad one. We are very in synch.

Scott: To add to that, obviously there are things that we might discuss as well. I think it’s actually a good thing that if there’s something I think we should be doing, or Testy thinks, we’ll discuss it and keep talking about it until we come up, with alright, either he brings me around to his way of thinking or I try to bring him around to my way of thinking. I think it’s great to have these conversations and it gets a lot of ideas and a lot of stuff flowing.

Q: What does it mean to you personally to be coaching this team?

Zack: I made San Diego my home 10-11 years ago when 7’s first became professional down here. So San Diego’s been my home for ten years. I’ve got to coach at the grass root level, I’ve got to coach at the college level, I’ve got to coach at the high level. So San Diego, even though I’m from the Bay, I see San Diego as my home. I met my wife here, we’re about to have our first kid here. To be co-head coach of the Legion is a dream come true, something I’ve always aspired to want to do and to do it in a city that has given me so much it’s just a honor and a privilege.

Scott: Like I said, I’ve tasted real life and I’ve tasted rugby life. I honestly for what I do and what I’m capable of doing there is no better job in the country. I’m working with great people, we’ve got great owners that are very supportive. The staff, everyone at the club wants the best for the club. I just think that everyone is headed in the same direction, it’s good, it’s aspiring. There is no better job in the states for me.

Q: 2018 season ended in the semi-finals, 2019 lost the championship game, and then 5-0 to start the year this year and the season getting cut short. We’ve seen this team rebound and improve with every single obstacle they have faced. How is that going to continue on into 2021?

Zack: Being where we were at in 2018, we always knew this was a build, we knew we weren’t going to be the world beaters in year one. Our secret kind of motto is that we are the fastest improving team in America. And that’s what we go into work every day with that, we’re just going to get better and better and better. And if you have that mindset the outcomes will come in the way you want them to. But we’ve got to focus on what we can get better as a team, as individuals, as a staff, all the components that go into it. If we continue to have that strive to just become better and better each day the results will come our way. We see ourselves as we’re just building, and when we get there we’ll find what we need to fix and keep on improving.

Scott: The culture aspect is huge. It’s huge within rugby worldwide, but it’s huge for us as well. We’re trying to not just grow them as rugby players but help them grow them as men and make them better people on and off the field. We’re trying to do everything together, we’re open books basically and we’re trying to let that buy in as much as we into what we’re trying to do going forward.

Q: First MLR Draft this weekend, talk about the importance of that to the MLR and Legion as a whole as the league grows:

Zack: I think it’s a very exciting thing, I know a lot of people have their different thoughts about it, but I see as something that is very exciting because it didn’t exist last year, it didn’t exist five years ago, it didn’t exist ten years ago. And that’s something that the MLR has done, it’s given young American athletes, but also athletes overseas that play rugby to say hey, there’s a pathway to me becoming a professional. I think as far as America as a whole that is striving to become a world rugby power, that’s the first step. Giving young athletes that play rugby a pathway to you, to get into a professional environment, become a profession and then that’s a platform to move on to internationals. It’s a very exciting thing in my point of view.

Scott: I’ll just echo those words, there’s not much more you can say. I think it’s great for these guys to have the option to play professional rugby after college. Like Testy said earlier is only going to get better and better. It’s quite exciting, this doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world in rugby. It’s quite a unique thing in America. In terms the interest it peaks outside of America you can’t put a price on that, it’s a very interesting different thing that people will go ‘what’s happening over here’ so it’s quite cool.

Q: Where do you see this team going in 2021 and how do you prepare with everything going on?

Scott: We’re just full steam ahead, we’re trying to learn, we’re trying to get better, not just as coaches, as a company, as Legion. We’re full steam ahead, we’re trying to get better in everything we do we’re always striving to be better. We’re doing recruitment, we’re preparing for pre-season, we’re preparing for games. We’ve been very close to touching that victory and the shield and that’s what everyone’s focused on, is getting that shield.

Zack: Improving to make sure that at the end of the year we’re holding that shield is our mindset everyday.