Six Nations: Defeat to France leaves Andy Robinson trying to square circle of victory

SCOTLAND coach Andy Robinson has a week’s break in which to fulminate over how his side managed to lose a fifth straight Test match that they had within their grasp, but the head coach insisted that he was not for walking away with big games against Ireland and Italy to come.

Now on a run of two wins in 13 Six Nations matches, and five in a row in all Tests, the statistics show no improvement on Scotland’s period under his predecessor Frank Hadden, which ended in 2009 with the SRU making the change at the top. The Scot finished a four-year period with six victories in 20 games, an improvement on his predecessor Matt Williams’ one win in ten.

Robinson was expected to improve upon that, as did he, but he has discovered the real magnitude of the task with Scotland’s relative paucity of resources.

The style of Scotland’s play and the more detailed statistics point to something very different to the days before Robinson took over, and began to invent a new style of attack with Gregor Townsend and Graham Steadman. Then we would fume at the predictability of a lack of line-breaks and the reliance on goal-kicks to keep Scotland in games, and occasionally win them.

Now, the frustration surrounds a team looking more dynamic and threatening, but still not winning.

The official statistics last night gave the Scots six breaks of the French defence, and the French three of Scotland’s, but there were actually eight clean breaks while another indicator the players look at when analysing their ability to attack, tackle-breaks, was at a rare high of 22.

The push to make the players more skilful in off-loading, the key to unlocking well-organised defences, is also making ground, with Scotland’s off-loads out of the tackle at Murrayfield yesterday around four times that of the French. Again, there was more accuracy, fewer dropped balls and so improvement.

These are all indications of a more threatening Scotland attack and point to why the team is more entertaining to watch, and perhaps filling Murrayfield once again. But the hard fact that travels much further than any such detail is the simple wins:losses ratio and that remains the hardest to shift.

“I have total belief in what the players are trying to do,” Robinson said. “This team went out and took on a team that got to the World Cup final, and I felt outplayed them. That was an outstanding game of rugby and Scotland contributed a lot.

“I was absolutely delighted with the intensity and endeavour shown by the team. I can’t ask for any more from the players. I thought they were inspirational in what they tried to do. We’re not there yet but we’re working very hard to get there.But I can’t hide from the result and I don’t think I ever have done that. I can’t hide away from the statistics [of defeats] and people are right to bring them up, but I have total belief the team can win. My belief has been strengthened even more after that performance against France; it’s stronger than it was after the games against England and Wales.”

Robinson does not have a decision to make on his future yet, but the pressure is building as he heads into the final two games looking to avoid a wooden spoon.

The key, however, lies in improvement as a Scottish team moving forward. That is perhaps most acutely where this period is more encouraging than that under Hadden, when there appeared to be little choice to Dan Parks at stand-off and a kicking-orientated game that did little to improve the attacking threat of the team or worry opposition.

There is also the issue of new blood suggesting fresh hope. The current Scotland team is improving and as well as the young players coming through, Stuart Hogg, Lee Jones, Dave Denton, Richie Gray and debutant Duncan Weir sparking new hope, players such as skipper Ross Ford, Jim Hamilton, Ross Rennie and Mike Blair are all beginning to achieve higher levels of performance.

Robinson will be forced into another change in the back-line – his 13th in 13 Tests – after winger Rory Lamont was taken to hospital from Murrayfield with a suspected broken leg. The good performances of Graeme Morrison and Nick De Luca in the centre, and Sean Lamont on the wing, point to him sticking with the players that finished the game, but Max Evans and Joe Ansbro may also come into the mix as they recover from ankle and back injuries respectively.

A number of players suffered knocks, Greig Laidlaw being forced off with concussion, Mike Blair with a dead leg and lock Jim Hamilton suffering a calf knock. However, with an extra week’s recovery all are hopeful of being fit for selection for the back-to-back games with Ireland and the Italians.

Robinson added: “There are various things we have to look at doing better. The last ten minutes was disappointing, for example, and our first-phase plays weren’t good enough.

“If you want to be successful at this level there are the points you have to look at. We have to be accurate, but we turned the ball over too easily as well.

“We are here to win. We have belief in what we’re about. We want to win, that’s why we’re involved and so there is a bit of anger after games like this because didn’t achieve that.”