Pep Guardiola an inspiration for Scotland coach Gregor Townsend

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has admitted he looks to the methods of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola for inspiration.

Townsend, who took over as Scotland boss from Vern Cotter in May, will oversee Tests against Samoa, New Zealand and Australia in November.

Before taking the Scotland job, Townsend enjoyed a successful stint in charge of Glasgow Warriors, winning the PRO12 title in 2015.

The 44-year-old has said he intends to mould his Scotland side around Guardiola's coaching style, particularly concentrating on exciting attacking play and fast recovery of possession in defence.

"My aim is to create a Scotland team full of work-rate, energy and speed," said Townsend. "Defence and work-rate defines winning teams.

"I believe people watch Guardiola's attack more than his defence. But his teams at Barcelona had a rule to win back the ball.

"They started at seven seconds, and then it went down to three seconds."

Guardiola has enjoyed a remarkable coaching career to date which saw him win a total of 14 trophies in four years at Barcelona, followed by seven in three years in Germany with Bayern Munich.

He did not win a trophy during his first campaign in charge at City last season, but his side are on an 11-game winning streak.

Townsend led Scotland to two wins in three Tests in June as they beat Australia and Italy, and has his eyes fixed on a tighter relationship between defence and attack.

"What we see is those three great passes and the goal to win 7-2 [in Guardiola's Manchester City side]," Townsend added to BBC Radio.

"What we don't see is how they got the ball in the first place. Defence is linked to the attack."