One key member of Scotland's coaching staff will travel down under with the British and Irish Lions this summer.

Gregor Townsend’s extensive knowledge of life with the British and Irish Lions will provide an invaluable resource for one key member of his Scotland backroom staff.

Forwards coach John Dalziel was named alongside English coach Richard Wigglesworth and Ireland trio Simon Easterby, Andrew Goodman and John Fogarty as assistants to head coach Andy Farrell as they prepare for this summer’s tour of Australia. Dalziel’s inclusion was seen as a surprise by some - but the former Border Reivers flanker will be able to fall back upon the knowledge gained by his Scotland head coach, who experienced Lions tours as a player and a coach throughout his glittering career.

Townsend was part of the Lions squad that claimed a historic 2-1 series win in South Africa in 1997 and started at fly-half as his side claimed an unassailable 2-0 lead with 25-16 and 18-15 wins in the first two tests. Townsend was replaced by England’s Mike Catt for the final test as the hosts avoided a series hammering with a 35-16 win in Johannesburg. Townsend’s next experience of life with the Lions came as part of Warren Gatland’s coaching staff as he made a return to South Africa as the Springboks took the honours with a 2-1 series win after they had fallen to a 22-17 loss in the first of a three-test series.

As Dalziel prepares to link up with the Lions coaching staff over the coming weeks, he revealed just how influential Townsend has been and will continue to be throughout the buildup to the trip down under and beyond.

He told the Scottish Rugby podcast: “Gregor’s been brilliant. Obviously, the initial conversation (with Farrell), he didn’t know a lot about what was going to happen but he just said he’s very keen because he asked a lot about you. “And then obviously, after I got the news, Gregor was the first person I called and we went into a bit more depth. He’s been brilliant just around the advice he can give and I’m going to lean on him pretty heavily over the next few months as well, because you’re going into a brand new world there. As an ex-player and somebody that’s had the chance to coach there, Gregor knows the Lions very well, so he’ll be somebody I’ll be relying on heavily over the next period.”

Dalziel could not hide his delight over his appointment to Farrell’s coaching staff for the tour to Australia as the Lions prepare to face the likes of Argentina, Queensland Reds and ACT Brumbies ahead of a three-test series against Joe Schmidt’s side. The Scotland forwards coach described his appointment as ‘a huge honours’ - but admitted the news is yet to sink in.

He said: “I’ve come off the back of a really busy Six Nations campaign so I’m just trying to process it really. In the end, it happened pretty quickly. It was something that was completely not on my radar at all. You’re fully immersed in the Six Nations, already intense enough. I think Andy had a chat with Gregor, and I had a brief chat with him (Farrell) on the second fallow week ahead of the Wales game.

“He said there’s a process of talking to all the probable coaches from the home nations and that I might get a phone call. And two days later, I had a phone call. It was a delight to hear the words coming from his mouth. When you’re involved in a job with the national team, you always trust and back the work that you do, but something like that (the Lions) always seems so far away. It was never really on my radar to even give it another thought. I pinch myself every day being the Scotland forwards coach as it is, so that (being a Lions coach) is a huge honour and something that will probably sink in a bit more in the coming days and weeks.”

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