YOU can only hope that Gregor Townsend had a good night’s sleep on Saturday. Those few hours of unconsciousness were all that constituted a break for the Scotland coach between signing off after five years in charge of Glasgow Warriors and commencing his new duties.

After seeing his team lose 29-18 to Edinburgh in the 1872 Cup second leg, Townsend said he planned to spend yesterday reviewing the match a couple of times before finalising his Scotland squad for the summer tour to Singapore, Australia and Fiji. The 44-year-old will have selected most of the tourists some time ago, but he insisted on the eve of the game that there was still time for a few final positions to be claimed, and that is likely to be reflected in the composition of the squad he will announce this afternoon.

One late change has been forced on the new coach in any case, as Greig Laidlaw’s call-up by the Lions has left a vacancy at scrum-half. Henry Pyrgos and Ali Price are the two certain of selection, but it remains to be seen if Townsend decides on a third – and if so, whether Sam Hidalgo-Clyne of Edinburgh has done enough to deserve a recall 20 months on from his last cap.

On the whole, Edinburgh’s victory was built on solid teamwork rather than individual brilliance, although one player who did stand out was winger Damien Hoyland. The fact that Tommy Seymour is already on Lions duty along with Stuart Hogg could mean two vacancies on the wing, presuming Sean Maitland will move to cover full-back, and Hoyland has made a strong case to go along with Tim Visser .

“I thought Damien played well,” Townsend said. “A number of Edinburgh players played well. I thought their effort in defence was very good – they were very committed.”

Time was when Sean Lamont would be in contention for a wing berth, but the 36-year-old has now retired from playing and hopes to find a new job within Scottish rugby as a strength and conditioning coach. Capped 105 times for Scotland, Lamont is convinced that his old coach has what it takes to succeed as a national coach.

“I’ve not always seen eye to eye with the boss, but if I’ve pushed him half as much as he’s pushed me then he’s going to be a helluva coach at

international level,” he said. “He is so detailed in everything he does and that’s why he’s had such success here. We were a team going in the right direction, but Gregor coming in really put a focus on what we can achieve.”

Lamont (inset) made his final

appearance off the bench against Edinburgh in a game that also saw farewells from other players such as Gordon Reid and Sila Puafisi, as well as from Townsend. Although as yet unsure where his first job will be, he is

positive it will be away from Scotstoun.

“Nothing is confirmed yet,” said Lamont, who played over 100 times for the Warriors as well as running up that international century. “It wouldn’t be here at Glasgow. Hopefully within Scottish rugby, that’s the masterplan, but nothing is set in stone yet. I couldn’t coach my mates. The crap they would give me if I told them to do something, things I didn’t use to do myself – that would be difficult! It’s a poacher turned gamekeeper, but I’m looking forward to it.

“I’ve enjoyed my career. I really have. If you asked me last year I would have said I could do with another two, three seasons. Then all of a sudden this year, especially the last few months, maybe because I have a job lined up, age maybe, I don’t know, there’s definitely a wind down and a realisation I’m done.

“It’s not that I’ve grown to dislike rugby, because I’ve loved every minute, the highs and lows. It’s just that I’ve come to a point where I’m ready to move on. I probably hung around a season or two longer than I should have.”

Edinburgh, too, said some goodbyes, notably to defence coach Peter Wilkins, who was the inspiration behind the win according to back-row forward Jamie Ritchie.

“We owed the performance to him,” the 20-year-old said. “Especially in defence we knew we’re better than what we’ve played like this season.

“We showed in glimpses this year that we can defend like that. Obviously we’ve had a very inconsistent year, but I think we’ve proved what we can do and hopefully we can take that defensive performance into next year.”

Ritchie’s inclusion on tour, like that of his team-mate Blair Kinghorn and new Glasgow signing Adam Hastings, could depend less on current form and more on the extent to which Townsend feels able to take inexperienced players with him for a demanding schedule in which Scotland play Italy, the Wallabies and Fiji on successive weekends. “If the call comes, it comes,” the Edinburgh man said. “I’m not holding out for an email or a phone call on Monday. If it comes, I’ll be absolutely delighted.

“I don’t expect anything to come through. I’m just looking forward to a bit of time off. If I get the opportunity to go away, I’ll grab it with both hands and I’ll be delighted, but I’m looking forward to a holiday with my family.”

For Townsend, however, that holiday will have to wait.