New Scotland Coach

Todd Blackadder?

Captained Edinburgh and did some coaching in Scotland. Would he come back?

Andy Robinson is contracted to 2015 and should be given the time to carry on the improvement that has been made. The performances in the World Cup were encouraging and when you learn how to cross the white line to score tries there will be better times ahead.

Surely rather than discussions about your coach you should be looking at ways to develop the game at Club and Regional level to ensure there is sufficient available talent playing in Scotland to ensure Robinsons undoubted talent and enthusiasm aren't totally wasted.

Robinson has to go. Scotland underperformed, he made some bad selections, we have dropped down the world rankings

He simply is not up to it

Rava,
exactly what improvement are you referring to ? I can't see any at all tbh !

Robbo should stay, but Townsend needs to go, and someone needs to be brought in with a loud enough voice to convince robinson that we have to ditch this conservative gameplan. Penalties are not enough. this world cup has shown that.

There is no point bringing in a quality attack coach if his ideas arent going to be taken on board, so Robinson needs a word in the ear from the powers that be, that he must stop teaching this team to tick the board over but not dominate it. We havent dominated a single team under his leadership, which is shocking. every game weve won has been by a close margin. A proper attacking mindset would hopefully change this.

You need a 10 and a 12, not a new coach. Try and converting Gregor and Blair, you have plenty of scrum halves.

Robinson and Steadman to stay pls, new attack coach needed (and not Brian Smith either, thank you very much!). Would certainly look at the candidacies of former players turned coaches like Chick Chalmers (Melrose) and Al Donaldson (Currie), and any other candidates from outside the Scottish game that were willing to put their hats in the ring (and were happy to receive the large annual salary of 23p!)

Rava wrote:Andy Robinson is contracted to 2015 and should be given the time to carry on the improvement that has been made. The performances in the World Cup were encouraging and when you learn how to cross the white line to score tries there will be better times ahead.

Surely rather than discussions about your coach you should be looking at ways to develop the game at Club and Regional level to ensure there is sufficient available talent playing in Scotland to ensure Robinsons undoubted talent and enthusiasm aren't totally wasted.

+1. There are a number of such initiatives already afoot (permanent 7s squad, restructured league, greater independence for the two pro districts, etc) and some that still need to be sorted (combining schools cup, etc), but the new crowd at the SRU are definitely going in the right direction. Robbo has made a number of improvements, most notably in defence, and you get a sense that the players see the direction they are taking. Sort out our try scoring/red zone difficulties and we'll be a handful - our set pieces are fine when Euge plays or if Low canrediscover his scrummaging form, we are usually competitive at the breakdown, we havetalented players out wide, and we just need to sort ourselves out at 10 & 12, two key positions

Robinson is the coach. The buck stops with him. He had virtually everything he wanted in terms of preparation and the team played as less than the sum of the parts. he must carry the can for this.

He simply made too many mistakes. Wrong selections, to conservative game plan.

We need a young ambitious coach. Robinson should have been left with Edinburgh were he did well. He is no international coach.

That's what I said ASBO.

New Scotland Coach

Is that the one picking England up from Heathrow?

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

Rava wrote:Andy Robinson is contracted to 2015 and should be given the time to carry on the improvement that has been made. The performances in the World Cup were encouraging and when you learn how to cross the white line to score tries there will be better times ahead.

Surely rather than discussions about your coach you should be looking at ways to develop the game at Club and Regional level to ensure there is sufficient available talent playing in Scotland to ensure Robinsons undoubted talent and enthusiasm aren't totally wasted.

+1. There are a number of such initiatives already afoot (permanent 7s squad, restructured league, greater independence for the two pro districts, etc) and some that still need to be sorted (combining schools cup, etc), but the new crowd at the SRU are definitely going in the right direction. Robbo has made a number of improvements, most notably in defence, and you get a sense that the players see the direction they are taking. Sort out our try scoring/red zone difficulties and we'll be a handful - our set pieces are fine when Euge plays or if Low canrediscover his scrummaging form, we are usually competitive at the breakdown, we havetalented players out wide, and we just need to sort ourselves out at 10 & 12, two key positions

Would you leave the Crusaders to come back to Scotland?

If I was TB, I'm not sure that I would.

Offhand the only thing that Edinburgh has that the Saders don't is a functioning stadium.

I would argue that Christchurch's tram system, ravaged by an earthquake, is still better than Edinburgh's...

Robinson should stay - he is obviously an exceptional forwards coach and Steadman has done a sterling job in defence. Toonie is correctly the one with the target painted on his forehead. I have already banged on about the number of great Super 15 franchise backs coaches out there. What a pity that SRU isn't far sighted enought to consider them.

Martin Johnson. I'm serious. Scotland thrive as underdogs with chips on their shoulders and something to prove. Robinson is a behind the scenes operator. Let Johnson soak up the limelight. Also his philosophy of forwards orientated play with functional backs suits the current Scottish team.

Why don't you try for Brian Ashton? With 2 englishmen who have been forced onto the sword by the RFU, there would be plenty of incentive for them to do well (and Ashton supports attacking rugby).

With 2 teams - Edinburg & Glasgow, the alienation felt by anyone living outside these cities must be huge! Lose the cities and build regions or provinces - nobody is going to want to see a losing side all the time. Do a Munster or Ospreys and move the fixtures out of the main stadium - 3000 in Murrayfield must be a lonely place to play

I'd keep Robinson personally, and I don't think his selections have been too bad overall. You'll never agree with every selection a coach makes, but I think we had the right squad at this tournament given what was available, and I think we were a better side this time round than we were in 2007.

I think Robinson should be kept, and should be given an opportunity now to revamp the coaching staff, bringing in his own appointments (something he hasn't really been able to do thus far). I think he's the right man to identify the shortcomings, and the SRU should be asking him, as the top rugby man in the organisation, for his input as to how to improve Scottish rugby on the whole.

What is clear to me, is that we need to encourage more skills-based coaching in our young players, and whilst the physical stuff is really important (how many times were De Luca and Evans exposed and turned over?), we need to focus primarily on basic passing and putting players into space. Robinson got Edinburgh playing a nice brand of rugby, so hopefully he has some idea of how he's going to bring this through into Scottish rugby generally. The forwards are pretty good generally, but we need to be able to convert possession and territory into points, and that's a weakness now at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Scotland.

Huwball wrote:Why don't you try for Brian Ashton? With 2 englishmen who have been forced onto the sword by the RFU, there would be plenty of incentive for them to do well (and Ashton supports attacking rugby).

With 2 teams - Edinburg & Glasgow, the alienation felt by anyone living outside these cities must be huge! Lose the cities and build regions or provinces - nobody is going to want to see a losing side all the time. Do a Munster or Ospreys and move the fixtures out of the main stadium - 3000 in Murrayfield must be a lonely place to play

Huw, the "cities" actually represent 2 of the 4 districts into which Scottish rugby has always been split - Glasgow, Edinburgh, North and Midlands, and South [the Borders] - the latter two are clearly not represented by pro-teams at the moment (bear in mind past experiments for both), and finances probably mean that won't change for a while, but I don't think that leads to any alienation of fans.

On your other point, Glasgow have announced that they will play matches at their Scotstoun training base from next year, and Edinburgh too are searching for an alternative to Murrayfield (new SRU chief exec Dodson announced this 10 days or so ago). So hopefully the ground issues will be resolved soon enough.

Ahston would be a good shout as attach coach, if indeed he would consider the role. Personally I'd prefer a talented local, but if none with the requisite skill set exists, then let's get in the best option regardless of nationality

I think Robinson has done a good job considering what he has to work with.

I can't believe people think AR should go this early. He's brought a much needed structure to Scotland. Call it conservative if you will but i'm just glad to see the silly errors being cut down. He is far more capable than Frank Hadden and deserves at least a few more years to prove himself. Already we've beaten SA, Aus, Argentina twice, Ireland twice, Italy twice, Fiji and Samoa. The only terrible games I can recall were the Wales game 2011, Italy, NZ, France 2010. All the rest have been very close games, wales 2010 being one of the hardest to bear. Hopefully the players will click soon and we'll start getting those elusive trys more often. I definitely think Gregor Townsend needs to be looked at.

You weren't that far away from qualification for the quarter finals in the recent rugby world cup. A little bit more composure against England and Argentina would have seen you top the pool.

Not all doom and gloom for Scotland at all. Just need to be more positive.

beshocked wrote:You weren't that far away from qualification for the quarter finals in the recent rugby world cup. A little bit more composure against England and Argentina would have seen you top the pool.

Not all doom and gloom for Scotland at all. Just need to be more positive.

+1

In there RWC Group matches,there was little in it ,when you consider the size of the Scotland players pool.
They did`nt do that badly,marginally worse than England,Marginally better than Argentina..
IF they can start scoring tries they could be a real 6Ns threat,Todd Blackadder?
IF he`d wanted to leave the Crusaders it would have been for the All Blacks,with his record he would be a serious contender there.

How can anyone justify booting Robbo? It's not his fault his backs really let him down in the RWC. If anyones head should roll it has to be Toonie, he was a great player but he is not a coach. He had no previous experience of coaching and was brought into a Scotland setup devoid of a credible and established 10-12 partnership.

Robbo must stay. However if he continues to include the likes of Morrison, Parks and Southwell in the 6N squad I may change my tune. For the first time in years we have credible alternatives at club level for these guys. Lets get them Involved in the 6N since they are proving themselves in the HC and the Rabo.

All those calling for AR's head have you forgotten how bad it was in the Hadden era?

Agreed that GT needs to go - he's done nothing.

AR has done a great job - perhaps there's a limit to how far he can bring Scotland on but let him serve out his contract.

One thing he needs to do though is start with Laidlaw and Weir at 9 and 10.

I'd also put De Luca in at 13.

The rest are tough calls....

My 6N backline :

9. Laidlaw
10. Weir
11. Lamont / Evans
12. Scott / Jackson / Lamont
13. NDL
14. Jones
15. Hogg

We have some potent attacking runners, lets get them out there and run at the opposition.

Interestingly in the most recent Rugby World issue, they believe Robbo has too much power within the SRU, and isnt held accountable by them, and therefore doesnt get a kick up the erse for some of his stupid selections and substitutions. I sincerely hope that isnt true.

Sorry to disagree with you TJ, but Robinson has to stay. We need to get away from this instinct to eat our own young - while we underperformed in New Zealand, there were a few things to be positive about.

- The scrum was solid, particularly with Murray and Hamilton playing.
- We played with ambition - who was playing the running rugby in the England game? Yup, it was Scotland.
- We actually have a vague idea of what our best XV is, particularly in the forwards.
- There is a good group of young players coming through that could, if given the chance, fit in nicely with the national team.

However, Townsend has, in many ways, suffered from the same problems as Martin Johnson: he was hired on reputation alone, he had no coaching experience, he tried to relate too closely with the players (which undermined his authority), and the game has moved on since his glory days.

Who can replace Townsend? Personally, I'd go for Chalmers, but he'll have to cut down on the 'crazy', and some of the more random tweeting. He's done nicely with Melrose, who have some pretty tidy back moves.

So, points for the future, and areas to improve:
- Robinson stays and Townsend goes.
- Bring in Chick Chalmers; sure, he's a bit mental, but I'm sure he can get free prescriptions of lithium...
- Don't pick Paterson, Southwell, Parks, Morrison and Danielli except as injury cover.
- Give a chance to some/all of Ryan Grant, Harley, Denton, Roddy Grant, McInally, Weir, Scott, Jones, Thompson and Hogg. Honestly, what have we got to lose?
- If we're serious about picking on form, make Laidlaw the starting scrum-half.
- Don't be afraid to run with the ball; we saw what happened when Edinburgh combined ambition with superior fitness, a strong offloading game, and a tiring opposition.

Chicks tweets can be comedy gold sometimes.

Any examples IBD?

I still feel Robinson should go.

The team did under perform after he had everything he wanted in terms of preparation.

yes it was marginal - and he made mistakes - without his mistakes the losses might have been wins. Duff preplanned substitutions and dull conservative selections

Scotladn coach will never be one of the top jobs so we willeither havce a patriotic scot, a second ranker or an ambitious coach on the way up./

Personally I thin someone like Blackadder would be perfect - and for him it would be good prep for a shot at the ABs job in a few years time.

Its just an opinion and opinions will always vary - and its cler he is going to stay but we must have a winning 6N - no lower that 4th for sure.

Yes he is better than Haddon - but \i want the best not a sfe pair of hands

We have some potent attacking runners, lets get them out there and run at the opposition.

Thats one of the issues - Robbo will not play them

"If they can start scoring tries"

How long have we been saying that?

If I'm honest saying "we are a good team but need to score tries" defeats the purpose of rugby, scoring tries wins you tournaments and if you don't score tries you're playing badly.

TJ wrote:

We have some potent attacking runners, lets get them out there and run at the opposition.

Thats one of the issues - Robbo will not play them

Sorry, but which "attacking runners" that were available for selection did Robbo not use at the World Cup??

beshocked wrote:You weren't that far away from qualification for the quarter finals in the recent rugby world cup. A little bit more composure against England and Argentina would have seen you top the pool.

Not all doom and gloom for Scotland at all. Just need to be more positive.

Top man beshocked

Can't believe anyone is suggesting that AR hasn't upped the ante, and is doing a damn fine job. We had an OK WC, even tho we didnt qualify which is damn usual, if we had a decent 10 then who knows ........we were within a gnats dodo of topping the group, we weren't that far away from beating the Pumas and England.

I would also go with this backline as stated by ruggerradge before

9. Laidlaw
10. Weir / Jackson
11. Evans
12. Lamont
13. NDL / Ansbro
14. Visser / Jones
15. Hogg / Lamont

I think we will be much more attack minded come the 6Ns 2012

Good post tho

Robinson is a pretty decent coach, but he just doesn't have the talent available. I'm not sure changing the coach would actually improve matters.

Scotland will usually be pretty difficult to beat, but don't have enough firepower to put sides away, even if those sides play poorly (as England did against them in the world cup and the 6 nations). You can play badly against Scotland for 60 minutes and then just take your chances when they come.

I can't see beyond a spoon play-off between them and Italy as usual.

Brian Ashton?

Martin Johnson?

Rob Andrew?

Looks like we're all on the same page re: the 6 Nations team. There's a great opportunity there for Lee Jones in particular (who I'd like to see get more involved in the game from his wing in the next month or so).

Danielli is on rank form, Walker is injured and Rory Lamont can't get a game. Sean Lamont will likely be deployed at 12 unless Scott gets himself back fit and into the Edinburgh side soon. Visser won't have qualified by the 6 Nations.

Free run then for Mr Jones and Mr Evans to play on the wings. Two runners with a little bit of dance in them - been a while since we've had that in our backline.

I've also yet to see a compelling case not to select Hogg at 15, and plenty compelling stuff from Hogg himself. Southwell has had a mixed start at Wasps, Rory Lamont can't get a game, Thompson seems to have displaced CP and yet Hogg is clearly the pick of the bunch on form.

He's still raw and I'm sure will make some mistakes, but he should be there on merit, and you can't ask for more than that.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Brian Ashton?

Martin Johnson?

Rob Andrew?

Go away.

I read another thread that said Robinson had the best win ratio of the last 5 or so coaches, something like 50%, which isn’t great, but still better than we were used to. Removing him isn’t the solution. He has come in and significantly improved the defensive side of our game. Bringing in GT was a mistake. Have any other tier 1 nation hired an attack coach with little experience? He may have been a great player, but that does not automatically make him a good or even average coach. Robo recently said that GT has a contract that he will see out, without saying when it ended. If we stumble through the 6N again then we may see the back of Townsend, but not before.

I don't know how anyone can say we had an OK world cup - it was Poopie. Not getting out of the pool = not good enough. nearly won against the Pumas and England - not good enough. Didn't score tries.

Where did Robbo go wrong - he should have taken laidlaw and Parks should not have been near the pitch. he didn't pay the attacking combinations in the backs, he played a conservative game.

Mistakes - Morrison / Mossy / not playing the attacking runners we have at the same time. Bringing on preplanned subs that didn't work.

OK we clearly will keep him now but it has to be a top half 6N finish

I doint' want him in the first place and he has done nothing to change my mind - he plays a conservative game.

We should also remember that under AR we beat Australia and South Africa.

Fantastic achievements that something as blunt as a win/loss ratio won't pick up.

TJ wrote:Mistakes - Morrison / Mossy / not playing the attacking runners we have at the same time. Bringing on preplanned subs that didn't work.

I'm 100% with you on the pre-planned subs. Robinson has never been a good user of the bench, in fact his use of the bench has been dreadful.

As for your comments on selection, I don't really agree. Paterson was the form full back by a country mile going into the World Cup and there's no way we could have picked Jackson at 10, by all accounts our best option at 10, and not had CP at 15 to take the kicks.

The worst performance of the tournament was the first match against Romania, where we were totally awful for most of the 2nd half against a pretty duff side.

The backs were:

9.Blair 10.Jackson 11.Danielli 12.S Lamont 13.Ansbro 14.Evans 15.CP

Which exciting and attacking runners, or more attacking combinations, were omitted?

The performance against Georgia was better. Remember the conditions. In that game both Parks and Morrison started. We were far more solid and yet up against a far better side. I didn't like the selection of Morrison for the game against Argentina personally, but it was certainly justifiable.

You moan about the selection of Parks but he only started the one game, against Georgia. Jackson started all the others (you can't blame AR for his injury surely?).

In terms of squad selection the one (and only one) blunder was to take an unfit Cusiter ahead of Laidlaw. I wouldn't sack him for that.

Its all about opinions and we will never know what others would have done.

A part of it is disappointment and the fact that IMO the team played below their potential. Yes his blunders were not huge -but neither was the losing margins.

I never wanted Robinson - I don't believe he is an international coach. I wanted a young ambitious antipodean who would take a high risk strategy rather than Robinson's conservative one.

TJ wrote:Its all about opinions and we will never know what others would have done.

A part of it is disappointment and the fact that IMO the team played below their potential. Yes his blunders were not huge -but neither was the losing margins.

I never wanted Robinson - I don't believe he is an international coach. I wanted a young ambitious antipodean who would take a high risk strategy rather than Robinson's conservative one.

With the Exception of Laidlaw and at a long push Beattie noone else really put their hands up in the 2 warm up games to warrant Selection. Laidlaw should have gone at the expense of Cusiter who was not match fit but lets be honest it was stupid mistakes by players that sent us packing from the World cup before the quarters not Andy Robinson.

How many tackles were missed when Argentina Scored that try? Had NDL not knocked on we might have scored 1st against England too. If's, but's and why's. We fought hard and we were not good enough. I'm struggling to think what an alternative coach would have done differantly.

Townsend is the weak link, as FES pointed out the backline of 9.Blair 10.Jackson 11.Danielli 12.S Lamont 13.Ansbro 14.Evans 15.CP certainly does not lack for flair or ambition but they were very close to sinking against a Romania side that Argentina and England smashed. It was a poor world cup but AR was not to blame and sacking him in a knee jerk reaction just when he is about to have some exciting players to work with would be a massive mistake.

Edinburgh under AR in 2009 were far from "conservative".

Fair enough chaps - we will see in the 6nations -


If we do well in the 6N please feel free to remind me and find me a hat to eat.

TJ,

It's nice to hear differant opinions. I don't agree with you but you do raise some valid points. It's good to discuss this sort of stuff.

P.S When we win the grand slam this year I'll gladly watch you eat your hat

Its certainly possible. once again its going to be a very even 6N I think. Maybe a year too soon for scotland but i am geniuinely excited about some of the young players coming thru

TJ wrote:I never wanted Robinson - I don't believe he is an international coach. I wanted a young ambitious antipodean who would take a high risk strategy rather than Robinson's conservative one.

Me too - I wanted Steve Meehan to take over. An excellent backs coach.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

TJ wrote:I never wanted Robinson - I don't believe he is an international coach. I wanted a young ambitious antipodean who would take a high risk strategy rather than Robinson's conservative one.

Me too - I wanted Steve Meehan to take over. An excellent backs coach.

I think that does a disservice to Robinson's skills as a forwards coach, which are clearly up there with the best in the world.

Replace Toonie with a Meehan or a Coetzee and well be like pigs in the proverbial

Well I don't think Meehan would come in as a backs coach, pretty sure he'd only want the top job.

I'm only talking about the time at which we were looking for a coach. I think Robbo has done a good job and I wouldn't replace him. All I'm saying is that at the time I wanted him to continue his good work with Edinburgh, and for Meehan to take the international job. I felt that combination, with Lineen staying at Glasgow, was the best. Robbo has done a good job, but remember that we ended up with Moffatt at Edinburgh which was a total disaster for Scottish rugby.

Still, Edinburgh's performance on Friday was clearly decent. Sounds like Leonard had a strong game at 10.

Interesting comment piece in today's Herald:

"Comment: Robinson still rides on tide of goodwill but judgment day approaches
Kevin Ferrie
Senior Sports Writer

Andy Robinson, Scotland's head coach, has been engaged in a charm offensive in the past week, undertaking a busy round of meetings with players, officials and media.

He has needed to.

The harsh fact is that he is in the course of compiling the sort of competitive record that must raise serious questions with one win at the very end of two Six Nations Championship bids that were over before they started, followed by becoming the first Scotland coach to fail to take his team to the knockout stages of a World Cup.

So far, he has done well to avoid the opprobrium heaped upon some of his predecessors and, in particular, the man from whom he took over, Frank Hadden, who won three matches in his first Six Nations Championship before guiding Scotland to the quarter-finals of the 2007 World Cup.

Having now put his case to the Scottish Rugby board, Robinson says that the deep depression he felt after the tournament has been replaced by a sense of great excitement.

There is good reason for that, too, with the form of Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors resulting in both going into their Heineken Cup double-headers over the next weekend well placed to challenge for quarter-final places. A widening pool of players can only be a good thing, albeit expectations are also inevitably raised.

Robinson claims he is not feeling any pressure but is realistic about his record and its implications.

That being the case, his reason for going public with the details of at least some of his review has been to address the issues raised. The most fundamental of those is the belief that, while he is a good, perhaps even great, coach who seems to improve all players who come under his charge and get the best out of them, he is not as good a manager or a selector.

When, then, he said he was looking to recruit additional help for his management group, it seemed natural to think that was the area in which he would seek support. That is not, however, what he believes is needed.

The new man, he says, will be a member of his coaching team, which inevitably invited the speculation that he was looking for someone with the know-how to get the international team scoring tries, yet Robinson said that would not necessarily be the case, either.

They say the best form of defence is attack but, when it comes to this area, his approach to what is happening with Scotland's attack is to go vigorously on the defensive.

Gregor Townsend is, he reckons, an excellent coach but simply lacks experience in a job he has now occupied for three years since first being appointed by Hadden.

Clearly, he has great faith in those around him, but as he went through video evidence which showed the quality of Scotland's attacking shape, he admitted that somehow or another key messages have not got through, leading to the failure to turn opportunities into scores.

That is at least in part down to the Scottish rugby development system, which means players arrive at elite level without their skills having been honed in a sufficiently pressurised environment and Robinson acknowledges as much.

However, any changes effected at that level are unlikely to make much impact during his time as Scotland coach and he has to make the very best of what is available to him right now. To that end, it is, in management terms, rather curious that the head coach has so far pretty much stuck by the coaching team he inherited in spite of having three failed campaigns to his credit.

He insists that the responsibility and accountability for these failures are his and that is very much as it should be.

Such is the goodwill he has accrued since arriving in Scotland, first with Edinburgh but also in generating some outstanding international results away from the major campaigns, notably beating South Africa and Australia, as well as a Test series in Argentina, that he was always going to be given an opportunity to turn things around.

However, in the wake of the World Cup he has had that chance to weigh things up and to make what changes he considers necessary. The outcome of that, in terms of personnel, seems limited to the introduction of this new man who, he says, will be someone with considerable international experience.

From the moment that appointment is made all ambiguity will be gone and we will know for certain that we are judging Andy Robinson, the Scotland head coach, on the management decisions he alone has made.

He may not yet be feeling it but, being realistic, the pressure is now well and truly on."