Robinson determined to rid Scots of 'white-line fever'

Published on Sunday 14 March 2010 23:30

TALK is cheap, we again discovered as all the hopeful speeches from the Scotland and England camps in the days leading up to Saturday's Calcutta Cup match proved worthless and the teams failed to produce that bit of sparkle they are dearly seeking in the 2010 RBS Six Nations Championship.

Andy Robinson and Martin Johnson had attracted much publicity beforehand as the former England coach and his former captain prepared to go head-to-head at Murrayfield for the first time on opposite sides of the fence. They played their roles according to type, Robinson, known as 'The Growler' among his former England charges, threatening to lose the plot at times and smash up a managerial box that increasingly looks far too small to house his rage, while Johnson was mostly a model of calm, furrowed brow calm perhaps, in his very cramped little unit in the West Stand.

But they emerged with very similar emotions at the finish, frustration mostly with their team's failure to find a clinical finish, knowing one would have been enough to land victory, but also striving to be accepting of the draw as being a step forward in development.

Both former internationalists, they know the importance of building confidence in a squad, so accentuating the positives in performances. They need buoyant teams considering Scotland head to Ireland and an emotional final match at Croke Park this weekend, with the hosts bidding for a Triple Crown, and England in Paris where France are waiting to claim a Grand Slam.

Robinson insisted the confidence was there with Scotland, but acknowledged that the finishing still left something to be desired. "We are playing with real confidence, but it's about sustaining it. Nobody will give you an easy score; you have to keep working hard. When we got close to the line I think we got a little bit of white-line fever.

"Our decision-making away is good, but it is when we get really close that we have to nail it, and that is the learning process. I believe we can stand toe to toe with anybody with the control we are trying to get at set-piece and the control we can get at contact.

"I thought we played positively, counter-attacked well and ran well, and when England asked questions of us they did well. Our defence did well and showed great ability to get back on their feet and drive past the ball.

"That (opportunities lost] has been Scotland's season, and we have to stop talking about how we are improving and take steps. We have probably taken half a step in this game, but we have to keep moving forward. There is a special side that can grow here.

"You look at the way the back row played; they were tremendous again. And we had Graeme Morrison and Max Evans playing with real consistency. Graeme and Johnnie Beattie were our men of the match. They really responded; I am really pleased at the way both players delivered this weekend. This was the benchmark for them. They have the potential to do that every week and if they do that they can turn into outstanding international players.

"But the players should be delighted at the way they played and now we have the last game at Croke Park – that should be a cracker shouldn't it? They will want to play and we will want to play and the back row battle will be interesting."

Both coaches complained about the scrums and how the re-sets helped to fracture the game, but both acknowledged their own players' failings contributed to a scrappy contest at times. There is little doubt that England could have been more dangerous had they kept the ball in hand and cut out basic errors, and Johnson conceded that his side was still at a development stage.

"There were little flashes of what we could do at times," Johnson said, "but we still are giving the ball back too cheaply. Every time we got it we looked like creating something and putting them under pressure, but then gave the ball away.

"At half-time we just said to the guys 'back yourselves, let's play from our ten-metre line and keep the ball', because the way the game was being refereed you were far more likely to get a penalty when you had the ball than when you didn't. That proved correct because we had a couple of good chances in the second half to score, though they did too, but no-one could land the killer punch could they?

"We said before the game you don't have to produce the miracle pass or miracle play; if we do what we do and do it well the opportunity will come for someone, so maybe we're trying to force the play, and there were errors."

He complimented Robinson and Scotland on their play and suggested that they were having similar problems, stemming from an inability to score and finish teams off in this tournament.

"Scotland have played four and not won one, but could have won three and probably should have won two of them, but that's the nature of it – you've got to finish off. But that's maybe a sign of where the teams are at the moment."

As Robinson's record now stands at two wins and one draw from seven Tests, so Chris Cusiter's record as Scotland captain is the same as he took over his role at the start of the season. The scrum-half was in good form on Saturday and does not feel confidence or self-belief is a problem and he remains upbeat about the prospects in Dublin on Saturday.

"A draw is a strange result to digest because we could have won it," he said, "but you have to be realistic because at the same time it took a missed penalty and charged-down drop-goal to stop England winning it.

"In Rome we under-performed but this was a huge step-up in terms of intensity and how we played the game. We were in control of the first half and played a lot of rugby, so we are making progress.

"We feel confident we can match any team in the world if we play like that. OK, we didn't score any tries, but we created a lot, and our defence was spot-on.

"This championship has had a lot of frustrations for us, but I certainly feel we're heading in the right direction. We will go to Ireland with a lot of confidence and with nothing to lose. It's the last game in the championship. We're going there looking for a win and to finish the championship on a high."

If clinical skills can be added to that belief over the coming days Scotland might yet have a big finish to the 2010 championship.