SCOTLAND head coach Vern Cotter has agreed a one-year extension to his contract and is now due to stay at Murrayfield until June 2017.

The 53-year-old New Zealander originally signed a two-year deal which began in the summer of 2014 after he ended an eight-year association with French club ASM Clermont Auvergne.

“I’m really happy to be able to continue working with the players, the organisation, the Board, and everyone involved,” Cotter said in a statement released by the Scottish Rugby Union.

“There are some talented players with some things to develop, and together we are focused on facing that challenge in what I think are exciting times for Scottish rugby all over.

"There's a generation of players coming all the way from the new BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academies, Scotland under-20s and the pro clubs into the national team and I'm pleased to be part of that.”

Cotter’s appointment was originally announced in the summer of 2013, and the SRU at first hoped that he would join sooner than he did. But he agreed to see out his existing contract with his then employers before moving to Murrayfield.

“I am very pleased we will be extending Vern's role as Scotland head coach for a further year,” SRU chief executive Mark Dodson said in the statement.

"“When we recruited him he was the outstanding candidate for the role and that view has not changed. The work he is doing with our young, talented squad of players has taken the team forward and we can now deliver continuity for the national team well beyond the Rugby World Cup 2015.”

Cotter made an immediate impact when he took the reins of the national team last summer as they won three out of four matches.

They continued to do well in the Autumn Tests, beating Argentina and Tonga and losing narrowly to New Zealand, but they then lost all five games in the Six Nations Championship.

Now, after two months of training camp, they are about to play the first of four Rugby World Cup warm-up matches, against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday. One player who cannot wait to return to action is Glasgow prop Ryan Grant, who is desperate to reclaim the No.1 jersey that now seems to belong to Edinburgh rival Alasdair Dickinson.

Grant was omitted from the national squad earlier this year pending a court hearing.

Although he returned to the group when he was acquitted of an assault charge, the 29-year-old admitted the case had had an effect on his form.

“It was a huge distraction,” Grant said of the case.“It was unpleasant for myself and my family and everyone else involved. I’m glad that it’s behind me now.

“Dicko has been outstanding for Edinburgh and for Scotland. So I have a big mountain to climb in front of me, but I just need to focus on me, get back to where I was, get back to playing my best and just see what happens after that.”