Stuart Bathgate: Andy Robinson requiring a creative spark to cause fireworks

Published on Sunday 7 February 2010 23:21

THE first 20 minutes, Andy Robinson had said, were going to be the key. To tame the French, and to get their RBS Six Nations campaign off to an inspiring start, Scotland had to play that opening quarter in barnstorming style.

It was the message the coach had delivered to his players during the week, and one he was happy to spell out to readers of the match programme yesterday. "We cannot allow France to settle today," Robinson wrote. "We must seek to impose ourselves on the game from the off."

If at one level this was merely a statement of the blindingly obvious – no coach has yet resolved to start a match in lacklustre fashion – it was also a response to the national team's recent record in the tournament. Scotland have won their opening game just once since the Five Nations became Six, and in the past two seasons were especially slow out of the blocks. Their 27-6 loss to the French in 2008, and that by Wales (26-13) last year, both home fixtures, were not only defeats in themselves, they also had a demoralising effect on the rest of the campaign.

It cannot have escaped Robinson's attention that Scotland's solitary victory on matchday one came against the French, four years ago. The hope was that the visitors, so remarkably relaxed in the build-up to this game, would turn out to be as unprepared this year as they were in 2006, when they handed a 20-16 defeat.

Scotland duly did their best to turn their coach's theory into practice, running the ball back at France whenever realistic during the first 20. It became clear straight away, however, that the French defence would not be easily breached: the first Scots attack was ended by a turnover after four phases, having drifted back from the visitors' 10 metre line to halfway.

Max Evans, in particular, was prominent in his team's opening sallies. The next home attack ended when, in attempting to keep the ball alive out of contact, he gave possession away, but he then featured in a more positive fashion when intercepting a pass by Yannick Jauzion and carrying the ball into the French 22 for the first time. The latter move led to the first score of the game from the boot of Chris Paterson, but a penalty alone was not going to be enough to rock the French, who were soon ahead through a Mathieu Bastareaud try. Scotland bounced back encouragingly after that, and a hopeful Johnnie Beattie offload could have led to a try for Chris Cusiter, but the scrum-half failed to gather at speed and instead knocked on.

The first quarter ended with Scotland on the attack again, but with France 5-3 ahead. It was only a narrow lead, but one the visitors would not relinquish.

Robinson, in charge of the team for the first time in the Six Nations, had failed in his intention both of seizing a decent lead and of preventing the French from settling, but at least had the satisfaction of seeing Scotland play creatively and with a measure of self-belief. Less reassuringly for the coach, the French defence was proving increasingly adept at snuffing out the brightest Scottish attacks, while the visitors' domination of the set piece, particularly the scrum, was steadily strangling the supply of ball to the home backs.

Scotland, conversely, were unable to defend with the same decisiveness. Forced to pour numbers into a ruck on their right close to half-time, they allowed France too much space on the left, and Bastareaud's second try looked all too simple.

The half-time score of 6-15 stretched to 6-18 five minutes into the second half, but Chris Paterson's third successful penalty soon reduced the margin to nine points again. Single-figure deficits can disappear quickly in many games, but in a chaotic swamp of a second half Scotland never looked like threatening even to score once more.

And that, as he looks ahead to the game against Wales, is the prime problem for Robinson. No matter what period of the match you decide is vital, no matter at what stage of proceedings you opt to go for broke, if you are going to produce fireworks you need a spark. The Evans brothers looked lively, Sean Lamont had his moments, and Beattie showed up well too, but that was not enough to achieve ignition. The French, on the other hand, were able to switch their style of play, and alter their speed, at will. The platform from the scrum provided their backs with some promising attacking positions, and they always gave the impression that if they had to score again they would do so.

Asked what he took out of the game, France coach Marc Lievremont replied: "A victory, but not only a victory – also control of the game throughout the 80 minutes." It was a simple, honest verdict, encapsulating a match in which that old failing, lack of penetration, was all too evident in the Scottish game.

Having said that, this game was not quite the same old story from the Scots. Robinson's hopes of blitzing the French may have been dashed, but he has at least given his team a harder edge, and encouraged them to be less conservative than in the past. It still looks like being a long, trying championship, but one in which Scotland promise to be honest in confronting their shortcomings, and tireless in attempting to overcome them.

More Six Nations match reports:

• England 30 - 17 Wales: Martin Johnson salutes progress after England survive late fightback

• Ireland 29 - 11 Italy: Gordon D'Arcy knows better must come from Ireland

More on Scotland vs France:

• Stuart Bathgate: Robinson requires a creative spark to cause fireworks

• Iain Morrison: Pass marks for efforts but Godman's error-strewn display is thrown into painful relief by tidy Trinh-Duc

• Andy Robinson rues missed opportunities

• Mistakes haunt Scotland captain Cusiter

• France coach praises pack

• Scotland vs France: Player ratings

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