Six Nations - Robinson named Scotland coach

Eurosport - Fri, 05 Jun 09:04:00 2009

Andy Robinson, sacked by England after a torrid two years in the shadow of Clive Woodward, has taken on an even tougher task after being named as Scotland coach.

RUGBY Scotland head coach Andy Robinson - 0

The Scottish Rugby Union announced the appointment at a news conference at Murrayfield, following the departure of Frank Hadden in April after four years in the job.

Robinson, highly successful with Bath as a player and coach, was assistant to Woodward when England won the 2003 World Cup.

The 45-year-old former flanker succeeded him in 2004 but was sacked after two years having overseen 13 defeats in 22 games in charge.

In 2007 Robinson took over at Edinburgh and, after also working with the Scotland A team, beat off competition from former Springbok coach Jake White and ex-Australia coach Eddie Jones for the national team job.

"I have enjoyed being part of the national and A team set-up in Scotland in the past two seasons and working with the players has fuelled my optimism," Robinson said.

"I am confident that I can take them and the national team onto bigger and better things.

"With the World Cup in New Zealand in 2011, I believe we have a crop of players who can really challenge the world's best and preparation for that starts now."

Scottish Rugby chief executive Gordon McKie said: "Andy has been part of the Scottish rugby family for the past two years and has brought success both to Edinburgh Rugby, with their highest ever Magners League finish in successive seasons, and has also guided the Scotland A team to notable successes.

"He has a well established relationship with many of the Scotland players and has an understanding of professional rugby at the highest level."

However, Robinson faces a formidable task to restore Scotland's fortunes.

Short of top-class talent, they have won just one match in each of the last three Six Nations tournaments.

After leading Scotland A in the Nations Cup in Romania next week, Robinson will switch his attention to the senior team and his first games in charge will be the home November internationals against Fiji, Australia and Argentina.

Factbox on Scotland's new coach Andy Robinson.

* Born April 3, 1964, in Taunton, Somerset, England.

PLAYING CAREER

* Joined Bath in 1986 as a flanker and two years later made his international debut for England.

* Part of the team that won six league titles between 1989-96, in his first season as captain he led Bath to a league and cup double.

* Ended his international career in 1995 having played eight times.

LIFE AS A COACH

* When Brian Ashton resigned as Bath head coach in 1997, Robinson took over. Was soon joined by Clive Woodward.

* Tasted instant success, taking Bath to Heineken Cup glory in 1998 by narrowly beating French outfit Brive 19-18.

* Was elevated to England assistant coach under Woodward.

* Toured Australia in 2001 as assistant coach with the British and Irish Lions.

* Visited Australia two years later as Woodward's assistant and England walked away with the World Cup trophy after an epic final against the hosts.

* Following Woodward's resignation in 2004, Robinson was named England coach.

* After a disastrous two years with England still suffering a 2003 World Cup hangover, Robinson was sacked in November 2006.

* Under a year later found work with Edinburgh and guided them to second in the Magners League this year.

* Applied to be Scotland coach in April after Frank Hadden resigned.

* Appointed Scotland manager on June 4.

PA Sport

Comment 31 - 50 of 50

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  1. Dont forget we have a Scottish Priminister who has done­ wonders for the country

    From rory p, on Sat 24 Oct 8:42AM

  2. I agree Andy took over from Clive Woodward after half­ the senior players retired from rugby 13 out of 25 was­ lousy but Johnson has not done much better, would be­ great to see Robinson thump England. Hope it goes well­ for the Scotts, they sing better than the English as­ well.

    From rory p, on Sat 24 Oct 8:18AM

  3. What are the odds on Robinson leaving us all with egg­ on our faces. Maybe time for Scottish re-emergence?­ What a paradox that would be with an Englishman at the­ helm!!!!

    From DAVID, on Sat 12 Sep 11:43AM

  4. post 46 Well yes Old School tie possiable a problem but­ what about the number of players who come from the­ Blood line Grandfather was Scots, These players are not­ good enough to play for there country of birth so to­ play at international level they pick teams like­ Scotland / Italy to get picked and then keep out home­ growen players. But they will then go and play in­ England or France at national level.
    With the only two­ teams in Scotland who see anything like TOP FLIGHT­ RUGBY being Edinburgh & Glasgow the rest of the­ home born players never play top level.

    From mungo, on Wed 12 Aug 9:24PM

  5. Andy Robinson??????

    The post as national coach was­ posted on the SRU web-site months ago. I applied for­ the job and got no response whatsoever. I have played a­ resonable level of Rugby for years and my application­ was based on the fact that the two previous coaches had­ a good level of experience and did absolutely nothing­ so my lack of experience should not be a hinderance due­ to the lack of their collective success. We continually­ underachieve. This is down to the fact that to be a­ Scotland player you MUST have gone to one of the the­ 'OLD TIE' schools. That is Fact! Things will­ never change unless the silent majority make a stand.­ Soon we will be out-muscled by Italy and will­ continually pick up the wooden spoon before being­ relegated to the second tier of European rugby. It­ stands to reason why only two players were taken by the­ Lions. Worse still the manager was Scottish.
    I look­ forward to peoples comments!!!!

    No comments and I will­ seriously consider becoming an English supporter!!

    From a1n9d7y2, on Tue 4 Aug 6:51PM

  6. What a mistake! this man is a welsh rugby legend.. He­ turned England into a laughing stock single-handedly.­ He is also credited for giving a Klingon his­ international debut against Italy in 2005.
    What he did­ at Edinburgh is due to the fact that Scotland only have­ two regions, which means their teams are less diluted­ with average talent, which unfortunatly half the­ Magners League is, with only the Ospreys, Blues,­ Munster & Leinster being teams with considerably­ depth.
    But I'm guessing Jake White & Eddie­ Jones wasn't interested, Robbie Deans has the­ Wallabies, Henry & Gatland have NZ & Wales to­ contend with. And even Eddie O'Sullivan thinks the­ USA are more interesting. And as Nick Mallet is having­ too much fun in Italy. I'm guessing the options­ must of been Timmy Mallet or Andy Robinson.. and yet­ the SRU still chose the wrong one

    From bealds6, on Fri 24 Jul 4:15PM

  7. england then scotland i reckon these scores for­ scotland 6 nations

    wales 35-14 scotland
    italy 0-27­ scotland
    france 28-0 scotland
    england 10-5 scotland

    From ryan, on Wed 22 Jul 8:09AM

  8. To quote Private Frazier from Dads Army "­ We're doomed"

    From David, on Sun 12 Jul 2:08PM

  9. change the story guys

    From rugbymad666, on Fri 10 Jul 7:03PM

  10. Recently, I discovered a hot place – SeekTall Co m --­­ where many sexy tall singles who like sports and­­ chatting there. I'm an open minded girl from UK, I­­ also like discuss sports and love with tall guys on it.

    From alenfuson07, on Sun 28 Jun 5:17PM

  11. Wouldnt wish Andy Robinson on my worst enemy, But­ Scotland is another matter. Come on Andy make sure they­ get the wooden spoon.

    From devonmiles, on Mon 22 Jun 9:25AM

  12. well lets see.... if it all goes pear-shaped this year­ then lets not hang about waiting for excuses! I know­ that Sean Lineen is a Kiwi, but he is more­ Scot-spirited!
    Sorry Andy, but you really have to make­ an immediate impact!

    From COLIN A, on Fri 12 Jun 11:25AM

  13. i think they should have a scottish coach than an­ english one keep the scootish tradition alive

    From Christopher Davies, on Wed 10 Jun 6:59PM

  14. For Jake White and Eddie Jones not to have been­ successful against a person whose team has just won­ only 50% of their international games I beleive­ Scotland management are lacking foresight and are in­ for a hiding for nothing, it probably emphasises short­ arms and deep pockets of the Scottish decision makers

    From kim.papenfus, on Fri 5 Jun 9:49AM

  15. So we should have picked a Scottish coach? Who do you­ all suggest......hard to think of one eh other than­ Geech who's otherwise engaged right now. Robinson­ has done a fine job at Edinburgh under the noses of the­ SRU. Get a younger Scottish coach into Edinburgh to­ gain experience...makes sense to me.

    From New Baws please, on Fri 5 Jun 2:41AM

  16. You might win something now! Haggis munchers!

    From D, on Fri 5 Jun 1:07AM

  17. This appointment is the right one at the right time.

    From iancampbell11, on Thu 4 Jun 11:44PM

  18. I dont agree that having a foreign coach is anything to­ be frowned upon. Look at what Warren Gatland has done­ for Wales, and as an irishman i was quite happy with­ his time in charge of Ireland and felt he was treated­ poorly on that occasion.

    Robinson may have had a poor­ time in charge of England but that was at a time when a­ number of high profile players had just retired and so­ it was a completely new team. And i think its fair to­ say his successors havent really done much better.

    He­ has done a fantastic job for edinburgh this year and i­ genuinely hope he makes scotland a strong force again.­ Northern hemisphere rugby can only benefit as a result.

    From timdalyjnr, on Thu 4 Jun 8:03PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Andy robinson and scotland deserve each other­ hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

    From Chris M, on Thu 4 Jun 7:57PM

  20. Well we will see i hope for scotland and him he dose­ well coz the press will be on him so quick if he dont..­ he is a brave man to take it so hopefully he can get­ thing going in the right direction
    he has done very­ well at edinburgh no matter what any one says..­ edinburgh dont have any thing like the money or over­ seas players the welsh and irish teams have so to come­ second this year is a very good achievement....
    So come­ on scotland lets knuckle down and start playing hard...

    From mark m, on Thu 4 Jun 7:13PM
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