No, Andy Robinson has made the wrong call at stand-off

Most of us have been through the wars with Dan Parks, most of us have cursed the ground he walks on from time to time, most of us have put on our angry faces and screamed “Never again!” as he has committed another error in another game that has ended in another loss. He has been an infuriating player, a maddening individual and, frankly, I’ve railed against him so often in the past that I find it odd that I am now about to pile in to support him. With friends like this. . .

Andy Robinson’s decision to select Ruaridh Jackson ahead of Parks for the critical Test against Argentina on Sunday worries me. I have nothing against Jackson. He’s a promising player and a terrific bloke but, over the last while, a great myth has built up around him and his supposed ability to get more out of the Scottish backline than Parks. This is what you hear coming out of the Scotland camp. Ruaridh’s vision and passing ability will get Max Evans and Sean Lamont running in a way that would be beyond Parks and his innate, deep-lying, all-kicking conservatism. With Jackson, goes the argument, Scotland are more likely to score tries.

The idea of Jackson unleashing the dangerous runners in the backline is an enticing one but where is the evidence?

Jackson has played nine internationals and has been on the field for a total of 355 minutes by my calculations. In his minutes on the field Scotland have scored six tries – two against Romania (Mike Blair and Joe Ansbro), two against Italy (Nick De Luca and Nikki Walker), one against Ireland (Ansbro) and one against France (Sean Lamont). That’s an average of one every 59 minutes.

In a similar time period, Parks has been on the field for a total of 372 minutes and during his minutes on the field Scotland have scored seven tries – two against Romania (Simon Danielli got both), two against Italy (Alasdair Dickinson and Mike Blair), one against England (Max Evans) and two against France (Al Kellock and Kelly Brown). That’s one every 53 minutes. These numbers are not revelatory but they’re interesting and tend to challenge the impression of Parks as a guy who is incapable of getting tries out of his team-mates.

I don’t want to denigrate Jackson. He is in his infancy as a Test player and may well kick-on to become a top-class stand-off once he gets more comfortable in pressure games. Clearly Robinson thinks he’s a better option, that he can execute overlaps better than Parks, that he can be more alive to try-scoring opportunities than his older rival. Fair enough, but he has to be making that call more in hope than expectation because Jackson simply hasn’t done it at this level so far in his career. And Parks, for all his faults, has. Even his worst critic – and there is some competition for that mantle – would have to admit that, when Parks has his head screwed on the right way round, he can be devastatingly effective, a guy who can boss a game and win a match. When Scotland beat France and England in 2006, Parks played. When they beat Ireland at Croke Park in 2010, Parks played. When they went to Argentina and beat them twice in the summer of 2010, Parks played both Tests. When they beat the world champion Springboks that autumn, Parks played in that one, too.

Nobody will ever mistake him for a creative fly-half. The other day, a wiseguy described Parks as the new Barry John and the only reasonable reaction to the comparison was a hoot of laughter. But it’s too easy to dismiss him as one-dimensional. He’s not got a running game, but I’m not sure Jackson has one either just yet. What Parks has is an ability to control a game with his boot, no matter how tempestuous that game might be. He’s got game management skills that Jackson hasn’t shown, he’s got the confidence that comes with winning big Test matches in the past.

Robinson says he wants to play more expansively and score more tries, but I don’t remember there being much complaint when Scotland beat the Springboks with six Parks penalties and one Parks drop goal, I don’t recall the outcry in 2006 and 2008 when they beat England through the boot. Do you think in Ireland there is a single soul who, in the wake of their extraordinary win over the Wallabies last Saturday night, called for a moment of reflection amid the celebrations on the grounds that the boys didn’t manage to score a try? No. Of course Scotland will have to develop a cutting edge to their attacking game and score more tries. But this is not just any World Cup game. It’s against an Argentina side that has to win, by hook or by crook, or else they are out. At the best of times, Tests against Argentina are brutal, pig-ugly affairs with few tries and almost zero expansive rugby. With the Pumas fighting for their lives, this one promises to be even more gruesome. Jackson is a cool customer, but he’s never played Argentina before. That worries me. No matter how many times you are warned about Rodrigo Roncero and his hairy-arsed mates targeting you. I’m not sure you can ever be fully ready.

The words “baptism” and “fire” spring to mind. Here’s hoping Robinson’s call proves to be the right one.