Sean Lineen (born 25 December 1961) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He was a former Head Coach of Glasgow Warriors from 2006 to 2012. He was a Director for the Scottish Rugby Union until December 2021.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Lineen played as a Centre. Originally from New Zealand, in the 1985–86 season he made his first journey to the UK, playing for

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...

in Wales. In October 1988 he came to Scotland and played for

Boroughmuir Boroughmuir RFC is a rugby union football club in the Scottish Rugby Union. The club's home ground is Meggetland, in southwest Edinburgh and the club plays in the , where they are known as the Boroughmuir Bears. Founded in 1919 and admitted to ...

Provincial career

He played for Edinburgh District. He has been awarded the

freedom of the city The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of Edinburgh. He played for the

Blues Trial Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African- ...

side against the

Reds Trial Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...

side on 6 January 1990. The Blues won the match 45 - 4.

International career

He qualified to play for Scotland through his grandfather and made his international debut on 21 January 1989 against Wales at Murrayfield aged 27. Lineen played at 29 times for Scotland, He was a member of the notable Scottish Grand Slam team of 1990.

Coaching career

After his playing career ended, Lineen became a coach at

and during his time there he guided the side to cup and league triumphs. From this, Lineen was appointed assistant coach at Glasgow Warriors for the start of the 2003–04 season. He later became a member of the Scotland national coaching team under Frank Hadden in the summer of 2005, coaching the backs. A previous player for Edinburgh District, Lineen had applied to be Head Coach of Edinburgh Rugby but the SRU insisted that the new coach of Edinburgh must already have experience as head coach. However, with Hugh Campbell stepping down as Head Coach of the Glasgow Warriors in 2006, Lineen was ideally placed as the Assistant Coach to then make the step up. On 28 March 2006 he was appointed Head Coach of Glasgow Warriors. He was coach of the Warriors for 6 years and started laying the foundation of the side that Gregor Townsend would later build on. After coaching the Warriors, Lineen then coached the Scotland Under 20 side; and then moved on to coach London Scottish.

Administrative career

He was made a Head of International Age-Grade Rugby at the Scottish Rugby Union. In 2016 he was made a Director of Rugby at London Scottish. He is now the Head of Player Acquisition at the Scottish Rugby Union.

Business career

He ran the Scottish Rugby magazine while coaching with Boroughmuir.

Family

He is the son of rugby player

Terry Lineen Terence Raymond Lineen (5 January 1936 – 17 February 2020) was a New Zealand rugby union player. A second five-eighth and centre three-quarter, Lineen represented Auckland at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national s ...

References

External links

Glasgow Warriors announce new head coach
– Glasgow Warriors official page, 28 March 2006
Lineen is the logical successor after Williams debacle
– The Scotsman, 27 March 2005
Sean Lineen on Sporting Heroes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lineen, Sean 1961 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union coaches People associated with Edinburgh New Zealand people of Scottish descent Boroughmuir RFC players Rugby union players from Auckland Glasgow Warriors coaches Scottish rugby union commentators Edinburgh District (rugby union) players Pontypool RFC players Blues Trial players