Flower of Scotland will bring a mix of emotions for Dixon

RICHIE Dixon has not enjoyed the thrill of coaching Scotland at a Rugby World Cup but he is preparing this week for a very different experience – leading a nation into battle against them.

Dixon, a former PE teacher and centre-cum-flanker from the Borders, played at Scotland B level but it was as a coach that he moved into the top international ranks. He coached Scottish club, age-grade, professional and full Test teams, taking over as head coach after the 1995 World Cup and working with David Johnston to create a new, expansive style of play.

Unfortunately for Dixon and Johnston, the period at the helm came to an end at the start of 1998 when the patience of the SRU hierarchy snapped under the pressure of an embarrassing record defeat to South Africa at Murrayfield and loss to Italy in Treviso. Scotland were shipping too many points to be comfortable, but they were also scoring tries at an improved rate and many players spoke of enjoying pushing the boundaries to uncover a more threatening type of game.

Dixon was fired on a Friday by his close friend, the then SRU director of rugby Jim Telfer but, as he was also the union’s chief of coaching development, he pitched up at Murrayfield the following Monday and carried on. He impressed Telfer in the way he accepted the demotion, but admits that he hid his true feelings.

He said: “I had a good job and so of course I carried on, and I didn’t show the disappointment I felt because that’s not my way. But I was disappointed, bloody disappointed, there’s no doubt about that. But that’s in the past now. You move on and here I am at the World Cup getting ready to take my team in against Scotland.”

His team is Georgia, who have left their training camp in sunny Cannes – most of the squad play in France – for a week in the New Zealand tourist resort of Queenstown.

They arrived at the south island adventure resort on Monday, where they were given a traditional Maori welcome with a twist of Georgian. They travel on to Invercargill on Sunday and their first game in the tournament will be Scotland’s second, in Invercargill next Tuesday.

Scotland’s focus might be on Romania on Saturday, but it is certain that head coach Andy Robinson is already well on with his plans for the decidedly dangerous Georgians.

They sent an almighty chill through Irish hearts in the 2007 World Cup before eventually losing 14-10 and they are better now.

Not only have more of their leading lights built their experience playing professionally in the French Top 14 – 23 of their squad of 30 play in France – but they have been playing more games together since 2007 with the growth of the European Nations Cup. They qualified for New Zealand 2011 by beating Germany, Spain, Portugal, Russia and Romania, also drawing at home to Portugal and losing in Romania, over the past two years, but with wins over the USA, Canada, Ukraine, Namibia and Argentina’s second-string, the Jaguars, since last November, they come into the tournament with nine straight wins, a platform of confidence the national side has never experienced since launching into the Test arena in 1989.

It is a great positive for the IRB’s quest to make rugby a truly global sport and is why Dixon, now 64, has found himself flying between Edinburgh, Tbilisi and France since last autumn. The IRB have sent leading coaches from the top eight countries to second-tier nations – Romania have former All Black front row Steve McDowell in charge – primarily to help these countries better develop their own talent through to international level.

“Georgia is still a small country in rugby terms,” said Dixon, who remains based in Edinburgh when not on national duty with his adopted country. “We talk about just 10,000 adults playing rugby in Scotland, but it’s around 1,500 in Georgia.

“They have a Super 8 professional league and the IRB are also helping by investing in strength and conditioning and preparation for the World Cup. I was contracted originally to set up a high-performance programme by the IRB but then I was thrown a curveball and asked to coach the national side. I thought why not? This could be my last chance to coach in the World Cup and I have developed a real affection for what they’re trying to do in Georgian rugby, and would love to see more countries emerge and compete, so it would be good to play a part in helping that.

“Michael Bradley was working with us before he took up the Edinburgh job and we have John Muggleton [ex-Australia defence coach] doing defence so there are lots of guys doing their bit.

“And the team has some very good players. Our tighthead prop Davit Kubriashvili played well for the Barbarians against England and Wales this year, we have two Clermont props Davit Zirakashvili and Goderrdzi Shvelidze, hooker Davit Dadunashvili and second row Mamuka Gorgodze from Montpellier, and our No 8 is one to watch – Dimitri Basilaia, who also plays for Clermont.

“There are a lot of experienced boys, seven of them playing in the Top 14, most of the rest in the French second division and seven in Georgia. The strength of the pack was one of the things that attracted me. That is still a key part of the game and I don’t think we will be bullied by anybody over the next few weeks.”

That is where the alarm bells should be ringing for Scotland, as well as Argentina and England, and ensure that complacency does not creep into their preparations. Robinson has had difficulty moulding a consistently high-quality set-piece in the past year and knows that a failure to secure sufficient ball against Georgia could pull the Scots into the kind of dogfight they have struggled to get out of.

“I think the pool is pretty open and I’d hope that we could surprise one or two teams,” said Dixon.

“Scotland are first up for us and they have the advantage of having two good quality games in August and the match with Romania on Saturday while we’re coming in a bit colder, and, while Georgian rugby has moved on since 2007, world rugby has moved on a lot since then as well.

“Scotland, Argentina and England are all used to playing regularly at a higher level than our guys get and so the big challenge for us is to step up, and step up quickly, but our boys have really enjoyed being together this year and they play with a lot of pride and passion.

“There will be a lot of talk about how they nearly beat Ireland in 2007, but the fact is that, for all their effort, they never won the game. They know that and they want to go one better and earn respect by winning this time. We may not come first or second in the group but I think we’ll have a say in who does and Scotland’s games against us and Argentina could be crucial for them.

“Of course, I’d love to see Scotland do well – it’s still my home country – but the sport is professional now and I’m here to do my best for the Georgians.

“It is going to be very strange in the stadium listening to O Flower of Scotland and being on the other side but then it will be into the game and, if we surprise Scotland, then so be it. Our boys are desperate to prove they can compete on the world stage and this is their opportunity.”