Six Nations: ‘Andy knows he faces scrutiny, everyone is under review’

Scotland have won just two matches in Robinson’s three Six Nations Championships to date, with winless Italy now waiting in Rome for their final match of 2012. Scotland have lost on their last two visits to the Italian capital and Saturday’s meeting is in the Stadio Olimpico for the first time, the Italians having moved to the home of Roma and Lazio football clubs while the Stadio Flaminio is being upgraded.

Italy sold out the stadium with over 80,000 supporters for the visit of England last month and came close to claiming their first English scalp. There are already over 72,000 tickets sold for the finale with Scotland and rising expectations of another Italian win that would hand Scotland the wooden spoon.

McLauchlan, who said before the championship got under way that failure to improve on one win should cost Robinson his job, said yesterday: “Everyone is under review, just like every job, and Andy [Robinson] knows that he faces the same scrutiny.

“This is a huge game for all the players and all the coaches. There is no hiding away from that. International rugby is about results. We have improved massively, and I think everyone can see that, especially in the way we played against Wales and France, but everyone else has improved and the gap between us and them is still there. So, we have to improve more to be successful and that’s what is demanded of the coaches and players.”

McLauchlan captained a strong Scotland side throughout the 1970s, winning ten of 18 Test matches as skipper, including a win in Dublin that ended a five-year wait for an away win. However, he also endured 11 games without victory at the end of his 43-cap career and ‘claimed’ three wooden spoons, albeit before Italy came along, so also has sympathy for the players.

“The difference is that we could go back to our clubs and play between each game; it wasn’t back-to-back as it is now,” he said. “So, we got some relief, whereas for these guys it is mental and physical torture.

“But that’s professional rugby and we have a very good squad. I have said that they are all under pressure, and so they are with no wins, but if you’re asking me now, after what we’ve seen, if I back Andy to come through this, the answer is yes; 100 per cent.

“This weekend will be a huge, huge challenge, and the Italians will be well up for it, but our boys are also up for it because everybody realises that we can’t go through the season with nothing. The players are too good to go through the season with nothing and Andy is too good a coach to go through the season without a win.

“I think we will see a real performance from them in Rome, and then we will go into a summer tour where the team could pick up and win a few games, and then we come back for an autumn Test series with great opportunity.

“There will be reviews of the performances by the SRU at the end of the championship, but I don’t think we’ll be talking about the coach this time next week because I’m confident that he’ll take us into a winning situation on Saturday and there will be a huge weight lifted off everyone’s shoulders.”