Andy Robinson says lighter summer role gives Scots best chance of success

ANDY Robinson has explained his approval of the downgrading of Scotland's summer tours by saying that he believes Scotland's autumn Test matches should take priority during the next eight years.

• Andy Robinson insists that a 'downgraded' schedule will be of benefit to Scotland. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The national coach was speaking after this week's announcement that his team will only play one-off summer Test matches against top tier southern hemisphere nations for the foreseeable future, while rivals England, Ireland, Wales and France will all step up to the challenge from 2012 onwards of extended summer tours featuring three Test matches as well as midweek games.

"The key thing for me is Scotland getting the right number of internationals in the autumn and playing against the southern hemisphere top four teams during that window," said Robinson. "And what we've been able to achieve in the autumn is parity with England, Ireland, Wales and France. We will play two of the top nations each year, with the exception of World Cup years."

"The other priority in terms of Scotland growing and being successful is concentrating on the Six Nations. Basically, having two top internationals in the autumn plus those five games in the Six Nations is really where we've got to target improving and starting to win. That is our priority.

"After that we look at the tour schedules and look at always being able to play a match against a top southern hemisphere side as well as against the likes of the USA, Japan or the Pacific Islands.

"The summer tours will be important when we are there, but not to the detriment of the Six Nations or the autumn internationals."

Scotland have effectively been relegated to the status of the warm-up act to their better resourced European rivals, but Robinson says that it is important for him and his players to pick their battles wisely.

Scotland have by far the smallest player pool of the traditional "big eight" countries, and any attempt to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in three consecutive Test matches could have a negative effect on Robinson's efforts to build a team capable of being genuine contenders for Six Nations glory.

"Scotland have never played a three match tour (against a major nation] in the southern hemisphere," he pointed out. "At this stage of the season you can lose the likes of Euan Murray. A lot of guys have had a hard season and need a rest or to tidy up injuries. We're lucky this year that we don't have so many guys that come into that category, but that is not always going to be the case.

"In terms of the whole structure of the summer, I am really keen for the players to not only experience top tier Test matches, but also experience playing Test matches in Japan, and in America, with our best side available to us – because that can help us grow as a team and develop a winning habit as well.

"We've got to look at what is best for our development so that we can get to the top of the tree, and that means we've got to do things differently. We can't just be copying what England does – we have to look at what we can do to make Scotland successful.

"I believe this is the right way to give the players the experiences they need of touring together and of Scotland winning. I think it fits together pretty well for us."

Robinson did hint that the summer tour schedules which were recently announced by the International Rugby Board were not exactly what Scotland had been after.

"We wanted to play one or two Test matches against the southern hemisphere nations – we got one match, so we're happy to have that," he said. "And in one year we play South Africa and Argentina potentially, so that is two. Plus, we've got the tournament in a Lions year in South Africa which is to be expanded to potentially include Italy and another nation, so that will work well for us as well.

"The other aspect of this is that the southern hemisphere nations wanted to play three Tests against the likes of Wales and England, but we don't believe that is right for us.

"But this is not Scotland suddenly getting stitched up. This is us being involved in discussions throughout. It is what we want for the next ten years, to aid our development and move forward.

"After that, we'll be looking at where we are in terms of our IRB ranking and how many players we have developed. This will all be discussed in 2015 or 2016, and at that stage we'll have a handle on what we should be looking for in future tour schedules."