SRU ready to unveil Robinson as new coach

Published on Tuesday 2 June 2009 22:49

EDDIE Jones and Jake White were never in the running for the Scotland head coach's position, but New Zealanders John Mitchell and Steve Hansen are understood to have been the men who provided the SRU with an alternative to Andy Robinson.

The three contenders on the short-list have now been whittled down to one, however, and it is widely expected that Robinson will be confirmed as the new Scotland coach before he departs next Tuesday with the Scotland 'A' squad for the IRB Nations Cup in Romania.

A newspaper report linked Jones and White with the role, and the SRU refused to confirm or deny it at the time which only fuelled the speculation. It suited the SRU's purposes to have two such high-profile and successful figures as the pair who masterminded South Africa's recent World Cup victory linked with the position.

However, a source close to Jones has told The Scotsman that while the SRU did make contact with the former Australia coach earlier this year, and apparently asked if he would take over the Scotland helm from Frank Hadden for the last two Six Nations games were the team to lose to Italy, Jones was not interested in the head coach role. He has signed a lucrative five-year contract with Suntory in Japan, and begun luring leading Australian internationalists. He was apparently open to providing consultancy work, but that was as far as his involvement would go.

White was never in the frame, having not applied nor shown any interest in the position. However, there is speculation that Mitchell, the former England, New Zealand and current Force coach, was on the short-list, with another source stating that current All Blacks assistant and former Wales coach Steve Hansen was the third man.

The final interviews were conducted by a five-man panel of SRU chief executive Gordon McKie, SRU chairman Allan Munro and former Scotland captains Andy Irvine, Andy Nicol and Gordon Bulloch over the past fortnight and reached a conclusion last week with board ratification of their top candidate.

Robinson was always held in high esteem, but the main debating point appeared to be determining where Scottish rugby most needed him: to build on two promising seasons at Edinburgh or take a grip of the national squad's dwindling fortunes. The SRU was acutely aware that a vote to go with the former would lead to the ambitious coach quitting Scotland when his contract with Edinburgh expired in 2010, if not before, for a more lucrative and/or international position elsewhere.

The latter presented the issue of who would maintain Edinburgh's improvement under Robinson. However, the fact that the Scotland team rakes in around 90 per cent of all income for Scottish rugby through the RBS Six Nations attendances, and the shares of broadcasting and sponsorship monies linked to that tournament, the autumn Tests and the Rugby World Cup, has persuaded the board to put Scotland's needs first.

Robinson is understood to have been offered a contract through to the 2011 Rugby World Cup with an option to continue longer-term, with Gregor Townsend and Graham Steadman to continue as assistants. But, with no director of rugby appointment yet imminent, there is also a remit to work more widely across the Scottish game in an effort to influence the development of the professional teams and the development of talented young players coming through the academy system.

In truth, there was no-one better placed among the candidates to take on that sort of role.

Robinson knows what resources he has to work with, having spent almost two years in Scotland building bridges around Edinburgh and with coaches in the pro and amateur games. He has knowledge of the Magners League, Heineken Cup and Six Nations, the demands they place on Scottish players and the expectations they carry.

Having led England to the Rugby World Cup in 2003 he understands what it takes to win at that level, and appreciates why teams lose in the southern hemisphere, having also coached the Lions in 2001 and 2005.

Perhaps the most persuasive aspect of his interview was his enthusiasm; knowing all that, and the lack of resources and strength in depth in Scotland, the 44-year-old still wanted to take the helm and believed he could steer Scotland up the Six Nations table, the IRB rankings and out of a pool featuring Argentina and England and into the quarter-finals in 2011 in New Zealand.

The new era of building a competitive Scotland team will begin as did the last in Romania and the thrusting of young talents into Robinson's mind for the challenges of the next two years.