Andy Robinson: Scotland have weaponry to win World Cup pool

Published on Sunday 20 March 2011 17:47

NOTHING has changed in Andy Robinson's mind after the head coach suffered his second successive RBS Six Nations Championship with the meagre return of a solitary victory.

Looking at the final table, this one was worse than the last, his first at the Scotland helm, because there was no Calcutta Cup draw to add so only points difference kept his side from claiming another Wooden Spoon for last place.

Yet, despite five championships on the trot now, and six in the last seven, where Scotland have under-performed and failed to take advantage of a field in which no nation was streets ahead of the others, Robinson allowed himself a wry smile.

This was not what he envisaged when he spoke confidently about his team at January's Six Nations launch in London, and there has to be a degree of shame about the manner in which they went through the tournament, playing at varying levels below standard. But, after an uplifting finish, Robinson does not believe they are any worse than they were at the start of the Six Nations. Indeed, now looking ahead to the World Cup, he believes their lessons have been more valuable than those received by others in the championship.

What is more, he believes Scotland can still win their pool in the Rugby World Cup in September, a group featuring Romania, Georgia, Argentina and England, and progress to the quarter-finals to meet the runners-up from a pool including New Zealand and France.

"Scotland at their very best have the ability to beat anybody," he said, reflecting on the championship. "But, if we drop down in any shape or form against any team, they will beat us. And that is what we have to understand about this team. As you saw in the championship we will lose games if we are not at our very best.

"So in the World Cup, yes (we could lose to Romania and Georgia]. They have the potential to be real banana skins. I have belief in what we can do but if we drop off against those two teams we'll get beaten by them. And that is where Scotland is.

"I think with the two warm-up games (against Ireland and Italy in August] we'll be ready to compete. We won't fear England and playing in Auckland. As a side we'll look forward to that match. We showed last week playing at Twickenham that we can go toe-to-toe with England.

"We won't fear Argentina - we beat them twice away. The importance for us is obviously getting out of the pool and the one thing we want to focus on is getting out by winning the pool. That's the ambition that we've got to have. We've got to be ambitious as a group of people. We've got to set the barriers. We've got to challenge ourselves."

It will no doubt please Scotland supporters that a second disappointing Six Nations appears to have done little to shake Robinson's belief. He knows the talent he has at his disposal now better than he did a year ago, is acutely aware of the strengths and weaknesses in depth, and will know also that the defensive frailty shown in the past two months owed something to an ever-changing midfield, the centrepiece of defence in every team.

There is undeniable quality within the current squad, with the core reaching their prime in playing age and experience. Older heads such as Nathan Hines and Chris Paterson have shown fine form and a younger group has emerged to add to the team's quality. And Scotland's ability to run every team, bar New Zealand, close over the past year is an improvement on the pre-Robinson times. But, if close is good, winning is still everything.

Thankfully, despite the prevalence of refereeing errors in every game and the ongoing farce of scrums that the IRB seems either powerless or scared to alter, Robinson has veered away from blaming officials and bad luck.

"I'm delighted with what we've done (against Italy], and frustrated with the other four games - in particular the Welsh game, where we allowed them to get 16 points in the lead," he said. "I think when we look at the championship it (the disappointment] will come down to three areas that we didn't get right: cheap scores against us through our defence, allowing the opposition to get field position too easily from our set-piece, and not taking the opportunities that were available to us when we were attacking.

"In defence we tackled too high early on in the championship and were probably dropping off tackles. The last two games we've tackled low, knocked them on the floor, and John Barclay's shown that he's one of the best sevens in the world because he's been able to get in there with the ball and slow the ball down; quite a simple game for him.

"We've put pressure on ourselves through our inaccuracies at the set-piece. Last week against England, against Wales, Ireland and France, where we've turned over scrum ball that we've had, that's brought the pressure on to us.

"And, in our attacking game, we had opportunities against Ireland to put them away. We didn't take them. We had opportunities against Wales, but lacked the composure, even when we were 16 points down. These are the inches that you have in the sport and we've got to make sure we're accurate in everything that we do. Against Italy, in that second half, you saw the accuracy from our game and what a difference it makes."

The shipping of 11 tries was a clear problem, while the scoring of six tries in this tournament - the most since 2007 - suggests progress, but the memory of those other chances missed at Stade de France, Murrayfield and Twickenham illustrates that while the Scots have an improved attacking threat, their finishing remains patchy.

Robinson draws confidence from individuals, such as Richie Gray and Ruaridh Jackson and the form of Chris Paterson, but believes the key to taking that next step towards consistency lies with ambition - in the attacking style of game he and his coaches have been pushing and which has begun to emerge.

"He (Gray] has not really surprised me, but what were really immense were the performances in the four games he played - the consistency of performance. And I think that's a real credit to him. To be as consistent as he was was incredible.

"What Ruaridh's done has also been pleasing. And I will mention Chris Paterson. The two last-ditch tackles that he's made last week and this week - very, very special to do that. That's actually part of the game that he's been working on and an area he wanted to improve on. And for him to come back into the side and make those tackles, I'm delighted for him.

"Another aspect I was delighted with were our substitutes. The substitutes in every game came on and did well so it's a 22 that is working well, and that's also important for us. Richie Vernon has done well coming off the bench, Al Strokosch did really well, and the half-backs."

He added: "But we've got to be ambitious about the way that we play the game. If we just want to be a team that wants to sit back and get the odd win then we'll never move ourselves forward.

"I'm sorry if that at times sounds arrogant but I'm a confident person and I have total belief in the players that we have. I have belief in the management. I have belief in the people we have in the team that they can achieve something if they work really hard at it. It's about going out there and really going for it."

Robinson will now immerse himself in a detailed de-brief before planning a summer of fitness and skills training to develop the fast-paced, off-loading game that he feels suits the players' strengths.He thanked Scotland supporters for their backing through the Six Nations, and hoped that the inspiration which he has tried to give the players, along with a demand for them to improve, does not dissipate on their return to domestic action, wherever that may be.

The experienced campaigner knew that turning Scotland into a more consistently good team would rank among one of the toughest tasks in his career. And he might have hoped for more evidence of it after nearly two years at the helm.But the Englishman remains confident from the glimpses of good rugby in recent weeks that Scotland have the weaponry to make their mark at the World Cup.

Against a backdrop of struggle elsewhere in the Scottish game, that is a conviction that supporters will be glad to hold on to over the summer.