Scotland warming to Andy Robinson

By Alasdair Reid

Last Updated: 1:19am GMT 14/02/2008

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According to an online poll, around 80 per cent of the residents of Berwick-upon-Tweed would like their town to become part of Scotland again. Having somehow managed to cope with being English since 1482, their heads have apparently been turned by reports that the lands to the north are now awash with milk and honey, with free personal care for the elderly, cradle-to-grave featherbedding and individually signed Christmas cards from Alex Salmond.

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Granted, their rose-tinted visions of a Caledonian Shangri La-La land have not yet been weakened by the grim reality of endless episodes of River City, Heather the Weather's dreich forecasts of gales over Perthshire or a public transport system that would just about merit the term 'third world' if it ever spruced up its act a little.

Those considerations aside, we should probably be flattered by the interest shown by the townsfolk of Berwick who, with a football team and a rugby club already playing in their respective Scottish leagues, at least have a basic idea of what they might be letting themselves in for.

That luxury was not available to Andy Robinson when he arrived to take charge of the Edinburgh rugby side just over four months ago. The club was still reeling from a summer of strife that had brought management meltdown and the departures of a number of leading players, while Robinson was still best known as the man who had been sacked as England coach less than a year earlier after a catastrophic sequence of results.

It looked more like a self-help group than a conventional coaching arrangement.

And yet Robinson is now being touted as the Scotland coach-in-waiting, a wait that might not be very long if current incumbent Frank Hadden cannot turn the national side's fading fortunes around in what remains of this season's RBS Six Nations Championship. Scottish rugby is a desperately small pond, and the progress Robinson has made with Edinburgh in just a few months has been enough to install him as clear favourite to take the top job when it next falls vacant.

Commentators and chroniclers of all hues have queued up to endorse Robinson's candidature, the most recent and high-profile being the former Scotland forward, now respected broadcaster, John Beattie. And having been the coaching sergeant-major in Sir Clive Woodward's chain of command when England won the World Cup in 2003, it would be difficult to argue that Robinson lacks appropriate experience. He is a been-there, done-that and, quite literally, got-the-medal kind of guy.

He is also, clearly, an English kind of guy as well, a characteristic that would have brought him crashing down at the first hurdle not so long ago. In the past, Scots would happily have accepted the hand of a New Zealander, an Australian or a South African at the helm of their national side, but they would sooner have poured you a double measure from their prize bottle of Talisker than accept an Englishman in the role.

While Robinson's name has been aired, however, it has been difficult to discern a single dissenting voice.Just as it was when Terry Butcher was appointed assistant manager of the Scotland football team a few weeks ago. Before it was confirmed, the suggestion that Butcher might take the job had some pundits predicting that Tartan Army diehards would be burning their scarves in protest, but his arrival provoked barely a whimper of protest. He seemed experienced enough, personable enough and smart enough. So as far as almost everyone was concerned, that made him Scottish enough as well.

Only one of the eight England caps Robinson won as a fine and fearless flanker was earned against Scotland.Yet it came in 1989, when relations between the two teams was on the cryogenic side of frosty and against a political backdrop that seemed to have set Scotland on a course firmly to the left while England sailed in the opposite direction.While Mrs Thatcher's Conservative party was almost unassailable in the south, it was all but wiped out north of the border. That Scotland was used as the testing ground for the poll tax before it was levied in England only ratcheted up the anger a few more notches.

And now? Indifference. Or at least, a mellowing to the point where the fortunes of Scotland's national sides can be entrusted to Englishmen without riots erupting in the streets. Maybe people tired of the acrimony; maybe devolution delivered the more mature mindset of a grown-up self-confident nation. Perhaps there is more to life than scowling at the neighbours.

And if that makes Scotland a more attractive country then the change must be welcomed. Small wonder that the grass looks that much greener to the burghers of Berwick these days.

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Comments

As an Englishman, this is the best news I've heard since Robinson was sacked as England coach.
Posted by Paul Mycroft on February 14, 2008 2:30 PM
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No Paul, you didn't miss anything - that is unless you failed to watch international rugby from 1988 to 1995. Apart from being small, he was the victim of playing in a era when Peter Winterbottom was still in his prime and substitutions only occured when a player was close to losing a limb! He also toured with the British Lions to Australia in 1989 as well.

I don't think that there is any question that Robinson is a great coach, he is. the question remains (in many ways similar to Brian Ashton) is he a good international manager?
Posted by Edward Scott on February 14, 2008 12:29 PM
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Eight England caps? Did I miss something?
Posted by Paul Ward on February 14, 2008 6:28 AM
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