Andy Robinson outlines importance of honing attacking skills

Published on Tuesday 15 December 2009 22:22

THE OLD maxim that 'attack is the best form of defence' could not have been more misplaced in Scotland's heroic Test victory over Australia last month. However, Scotland coach Andy Robinson believes that his side's attack will be a platform for success in the RBS Six Nations Championship if Scotland's players can take more responsibility for it.

Robinson defended his 'attack coach' Gregor Townsend, pointing to the improvement in the team's ability to attack from deep and cut open defensive lines in the recent autumn Test matches and highlighting how the pertinent failing was in players' inability to read the attack to finish off. That, he stated, was what denied Scotland a clean sweep last month.

He said "Gregor (Townsend] is the right man for the role and we will all keep improving. The first thing is creating the opportunities and the second is taking them. The work that he's putting into his coaching is good and I've been pleased with the way he's working, and I have an expectation from all of us, myself included.

"There has been improvements in the understanding of our attacking game, but it's now about developing the execution. The turning point against Argentina, for me, was when Alan MacDonald had the ball in a three-on-one and we had the quickest man on the field (Thom Evans] in space and we didn't pass it to him. Had we, I believe we would have scored. Chris Cusiter made a line-break from a restart, and we had the execution to get Chris into space, but where was everybody else? With all due respect, coaching defence is a lot simpler than putting together a framework for attack. All the systems in defence are similar throughout the world."

He also pinpointed poor kicking skills and a concern over players' fitness, pondering whether this played a part in their fading after a few phases of an attack and becoming predictable or going it alone as individuals. Dan Parks, he said, would come back into contention for the Six Nations if his form at Glasgow continued to improve, though he is also scouring for other contenders to the problem position of stand-off. But, a key to improvement in 2010, he insisted, lay with the players and their ability to emerge from a professional bubble and push themselves to improve skills.

He said: "There are a lot of coaches involved now, a lot of specialists, and players can be 'mothered' in some respects with people giving them lots of advice. The players don't necessarily understand that advice or how to apply it to themselves, and that is the key.

"When they're being given advice they have to ask the question 'why?' Ask what it means, what difference it's going to make, rather than just take it, like a lemming, without a clue as to the difference it's going to make. If we have guys with that desire to be the best in the world in their position, they have to ask themselves what they have to improve, rather than expecting a coach to tell them what to improve.

"A lot of forwards want to be told where to run. They are in the scrum and there is a framework there, and then they say 'you tell me where you want me to run'. It's got to that, and a lot of players go to places without thinking. We have a number of players who go to the next ruck and you ask them why and they say 'I dunno'. The ball's about to be moved out and they are stood at a ruck. It happens quite often. But the reason why they do it is because they are comfortable being in that position."

Robinson has been encouraged by players' form on return to their clubs, although the similar failings in finishing cost Edinburgh victory at his old club Bath on Sunday. Edinburgh return to Murrayfield on Saturday bidding for Heineken Cup revenge over Bath while Glasgow head south to Gloucester in search of a unique double.

Robinson believes the talent exists in Scotland to create Six Nations challengers over the next few months, but only if more players waken up to their responsibilities to improve themselves. "It's now about how we can get to the next step, by engaging the top two inches; starting to think about our own performance and what it means. And how can they use all these resources they now have to make them better players."