Andy Robinson orders Scots to throw off the shackles

Published on Tuesday 17 November 2009 21:49

WITH every Scot's performance against Fiji scrutinised and mistakes acknowledged, Andy Robinson insisted that more ambition and accuracy this weekend would give Scotland the chance to secure a first win over Australia in 27 years.

• Scotland head coach Andy Robinson has remained faithful to the XV that defeated Fiji at the weekend, but admits his side must 'improve in every single area' if they are to have any chance against Australia Picture: Neil Hanna

The head coach is still getting to know his new national squad and in naming the same XV and 22 that lined up against Fiji he is keen to show faith in each player and afford them the opportunities to prove they have learned from the opening Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Test.

Chief among the lessons was the ability to generate quick ball and ignite momentum-building, threatening attacks, something that faded from the Scots' arsenal as Saturday's game wore on. Robinson acknowledged that he had sent his team out to play a narrow style of game against Fiji, one where they attacked the inexperienced Fiji pack, but felt that the lack of momentum meant it became more constricted than was planned. "We did look at a narrow game against Fiji," Robinson said, "but not that narrow. We had too many players inside the stand-off at times, we didn't ask enough questions of Fiji by coming onto the ball at pace and being accurate, and that's where we lacked ambition at times.

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"Selection took quite a time on Sunday night. We challenged every area and had a very good look at how we performed for the first 35 minutes, when we were in complete control, and how we tailed off after that. It was disappointing when we went to 23-7 that we didn't kick on.

"But every player had good parts to his game and every player had areas to his game he needs to improve, and the reason for picking the same team and 22 is to say 'go out there and improve – there is confidence in the way you performed last week, but we need to show the level of improvement'.

"We need to improve in every area: our scrum, because we will be under huge pressure, our lineout play, defensively being better at getting our line speed and in the hits we're putting in, and the obvious improvement we need to make is to enjoy having the ball in hand and work with quicker ball than we did against Fiji. But we also have to look at how we're trying to play, with more width and ambition, but the players understand that and we've kept the same team so they can go out and show it."

Few changes were expected, but the Scotland coach did his best yesterday to balance praising his players with turning up the pressure around them by pointing to the Scotland 'A' fixture with Tonga on Friday night as a further reason why his squad had to ensure they stepped up their performance levels this weekend. But revealing a more ambitious attacking game against one of the best defences, and slickest counter-attacking sides, in the world will is a significant challenge.

While no Scotland players in his charge have experienced beating the Wallabies at Test level, the coach has, most notably steering England to the World Cup Final triumph in 2003. He knows many Australia players well – he tried to sign their skipper Rocky Elsom for Edinburgh but lost out to Leinster – and is excited at the prospect of his Scots facing the Wallaby talents.

"In this week's game we have Matt Giteau and Phil Godman at stand-off – two of the smallest players on the pitch – and I think that head-to-head is going to be fantastic to watch; to see who can control the game well. At scrum-half Will Genia has come on as a star of the future and looks a strong boy, pretty physical in the way he runs, and his battle with Chris Cusiter will be great to watch too, as will the big boys going toe-to-toe with each other. The (Australian] scrum has been improving for the last two years. They have a guy (loosehead prop Benn Robinson] who loves scrummaging – he's very dynamic – but there's also a real positivity about the way they scrum. Their lineout was under pressure – when you come up against England and Ireland, two of the best lineout teams in the world, it will be under pressure – but we know their lineout will be good this weekend and we'll have to be at our best to challenge for ball and secure ball ourselves.

"The other area in which they're very strong is in their ability to turn ball over, and that's not just their back row. Players that get isolated lose the ball because they're strong in that area. They have had some hardship in the Tri-Nations (won one, lost five], but they weren't far away and that was shown in their performance against South Africa, and they will want to keep their unbeaten record.

"And Rocky Elsom (the Wallaby captain] has been on fire as a rugby player for the last two years. What always surprises me about him is the pace he has. He scored a great try (against Ireland] that not a lot of forwards would have scored, and he ran away from his support at one stage and they couldn't get with him. He's a great guy and I have a lot of time for him – he's an inspirational leader – but I'm looking forward to seeing how we knock him over this weekend." Robinson added: "I said players and myself had to improve by 15 per cent this week, and for me as a coach my analysis of Australia and the work we do this week has to be spot-on.

"For us, it's about taking nothing for granted. It's a new game, 0-0, different referee, different opposition and if we take anything for granted this week we'll get turned over, but that is why we have to improve in every single area in this Test match, and that's why I picked the same team – it's not about sitting back and patting each other on the back.

"On the whole it was a good performance against Fiji, but now it's about how we take it to another level this week."