Reports suggest Matt Taylor will join the Scotland coaching team later this year © Getty Images

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The Scottish Rugby Union is reportedly set to name Reds assistant coach Matt Taylor as their new defence coach.

Reports in Scotland suggest that the former Aberdeen GSFP, Edinburgh and Borders flanker is poised to join head coach Andy Robinson's backroom staff as a direct replacement for Graham Steadman whose contract has apparently not been renewed.

The unconfirmed deal will see Taylor link up with fellow Australian and former Wales and USA boss Scott Johnson with the ex-Wallabies assistant poised to begin work with the side this summer having been recruited from RaboDirect PRO12 side Ospreys.

With former Italy captain Massimo Cuttitta currently acting as scrum specialist, former Scotland international and current attack coach Gregor Townsend and kicking coach Duncan Hodge look set to be the only Scottish members of the coaching team post-Six Nations.

Taylor, who was promoted from the Reds Academy to his current role by head coach Ewen McKenzie, is currently helping to orchestrate the Brisbane-based side's defence of the Super Rugby crown. The Super Rugby season will run until August although reports suggest Taylor may be in place for Scotland's summer clashes against Australia and Fiji.

The rumoured appointment of another southern hemisphere coach to the Scotland coaching team has drawn criticism from some quarters with former captain Gary Armstrong among those to question such a policy.

"There seems to be this idea that if you come from Australia or New Zealand, you're automatically better than if you come from Scotland," he told The Herald, "but that hasn't been borne out by results in recent seasons and I think that it's worrying.

"There are two good Scots down at Gloucester [Bryan Redpath and Carl Hogg], while you have the likes of Craig Chalmers and Kenny Murray [who coach Melrose and Ayr respectively], but the message seems to be that you have more chance of getting a job at Murrayfield if you are not actually from Scotland."