Many of the top players pointed the finger of blame at Williams

But even Williams' critics would admit his poor record of just three wins out of 17 Tests is a symptom of wider problems facing Scottish rugby.

The BBC's John Beattie, a former Scottish rugby international, looks at what needs to change to turn things around.

There was clearly some kind of problem between some of the players, and Williams and his backroom staff.

A lot of the senior guys were outspoken against him, which is a real first for rugby in Scotland.

But we're only having this conversation because the team has not been doing well, and Williams has became the story as a result.

Ultimately he tried to revolutionise our side and I think he had the intial favour and support. Now though the honeymoon period is over and we are sorely needing a domestic clean up From Envy The Devastator Have your say on Scrum V

That made his position untenable, bringing the sort of clamour and feeding frenzy we saw with Berti Vogts and the football team.

Looking ahead, Scotland need to be ambitious with their next appointment. They should go down the England rugby route of appointing a manager like they did with Sir Clive Woodward.

That manager doesn't necessarily have to be Scottish but, after much of the country has blamed an Australian in Williams, it might not be a bad idea.

Then around that manager should be the coaches of Scotland's pro teams - Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Borders - who should also be in charge of the national side.

Doing the above would mean an end to the excuses. You can't say an Australian did this or an Irish member of the back-room staff did that.

This would leave the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of us Scots. Then everyone can see conclusively what sort of a mess we're in.

Having an Aussie coach has almost given the public an immediate excuse for these poor results.

Williams had the idea to get as many of the leading players playing domestic rugby in Scotland, and I like that idea.

But it doesn't necessarily have to be so rigid. Imagine you have five players who the SRU pay �100,000 each - that's �500,000 in total that could be paid for by, say, a few English Premiership clubs.

That would leave the SRU with the chance to bring, for example, 25 young players at �20,000 a year through a system. That can only help Scottish rugby.

This is the biggest problem, bar none. Sport in this country has been ignored for 20 years and we're now seeing the effect.

School sport has been destroyed and it is a miniscule fraction of what it is in England.

As a result, a big investigation needs to be done. There are many places where there is no compulsory physical education for kids.

In fact, I'm fairly certainly there is less exercise in Scottish schools than anywhere else in Europe.

A system is slowly being introduced for two hours a week per student but that's some way off what's needed.

This lack of school sport has started manifesting itself at the top of the sport and it's very scary.

The SRU is labouring away under huge debt - about �16m I believe - mainly from building the national stadium.

The union is hoping to cut it down but to do that totally they'll need to sell off some of the back area at Murrayfield.

Added to that, the SRU gets less from the Scottish executive than the Welsh or Irish unions do for example. The SRU needs more.

Quite rightly the structure within the SRU has been completely turned around. Five memebers resigned earlier this year, among them chief executive Phil Anderton.

We're beginning to embrace the corporate structure which we have to do under UK Sport guidelines. People didn't understand that before but do now and finally we can start going forward.

We need to see how things go and, if it works, say "great, we're doing something right" or alternatively, if we're struggling, say "we're doing it all wrong".

Whatever the structure is now and in the future, there has to be unity.