Scottish Rugby has been given a significant morale boost just days before the start of the World Cup warm-up matches by Vern Cotter, who has signed a one-year contract extension.

Scotland’s head coach initially agreed a two-year deal which began in the summer of 2014 after he ended an eight-year association with ASM Clermont Auvergne. He is now contracted to stay at Murrayfield until June 2017.

“I’m really happy to be able to continue working with the players, the organisation, the Board, and everyone involved,” Cotter, 53, said in a statement released by the SRU. “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.”

Leading figures within Murrayfield have been sure since Cotter arrived that he would be in the job for the medium to long term. They were unperturbed by reports earlier this year that Bordeaux were trying to lure the New Zealander back to French club rugby, and their confidence in his commitment now appears to have been vindicated.

“I am very pleased we will be extending Vern's role as Scotland head coach for a further year,” Mark Dodson, the SRU’s chief executive, 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’s appointment was actually 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, the French club ASM Clermont Auvergne, before moving to Murrayfield.

If any prospective employers come courting Cotter between now and the expiry of his new deal, the SRU can be expected to insist that he does as he did in France - or that they receive substantial compensation for the early departure of a man they continue to rate extremely highly.