Andy Robinson may have switched sides from England to Scotland, but he claims that he is still excited by the prospect of leading his team at Twickenham this weekend and firmly believes in the ability of Scotland to achieve his adopted country’s first win there for 28 years, as long as they get an even break from Romain Poite, the referee.
The Scotland head coach has started the mind games, following the example of Warren Gatland, the Wales head coach, by singling out Dylan Hartley and warning the officials to watch out for the England hooker trying to “milk” penalties at scrum time.
“What is important for us is that the scrums don’t stand up,” Robinson said. “If the opposition is stronger or better and we are going backwards, we have to deal with that, as happened against France. What we don’t want to happen is that these scrums get stood up. I believe at times Hartley does that. He stands, he will push the scrum up to milk the penalty.”
Robinson has made four changes in personnel to the side who lost at home to Ireland, with Joe Ansbro, of Northampton, having recovered from concussion to reclaim his place as part of the fourth new centre combination in as many games, and Rory Lawson, of Gloucester, back in the starting XV at scrum half, thanks to his superior passing game. Mike Blair drops to the bench. Nathan Hines, the Leinster lock, bulks up the back row and Simon Danielli, of Ulster, hopes that he can bring a bit more try-poaching skill to the wing.
On the bench, Alasdair Strokosch, the Gloucester flanker, is in line for his first international action since a knee operation in October.
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“It takes courage — you’ve got to take the game to England,” is Robinson’s recipe for success. “We have to get off the line and put white shirts on the floor. We have to get stuck into them. I’m really looking forward to going there [Twickenham]: it’s a fantastic stadium. What I’ve been saying to the players is that there is nowhere better to go and perform.”