THERE was more than a touch of Englishness about Scotland's performance on Saturday, and not purely because the home side managed to out-muscle and out-smart the weightier English pack in the Murrayfield rain.
Andy Robinson was, in fact, a bigger part of the latest Calcutta Cup victory and English downfall than anyone let on last week. The Scotsman was told that he was playing no greater a role than was common for Scotland's pro team coaches, so either the likes of Hugh Campbell, Sean Lineen and Steve Bates have been more heavily involved than we realised previously, or that was simply cute camouflage to keep the former England coach from dominating headlines.
Two years ago, Robinson was on the receiving end as Hadden's first season in charge brought a stunning first Calcutta Cup triumph to Scotland in six years and proved the beginning of the end of Robinson's time at the England helm. This time, his style was written larger over the home forwards than the stuttering pack-horses that toiled to no avail in white jerseys at the weekend.
Robinson will term it mere 'tinkering', but the difference in Scotland's breakdown and rucking on Saturday was significant and more than a bit Edinburgh-like. There was more and quicker attacking of the area to the right of rucks, better ball presentation and moving of the point of attack away from the English forwards. Scottish ball came back slicker and English possession was regularly slowed up.
The variety of lineouts have also changed in the past two games from those which Scotland used in the World Cup and the first two matches of the tournament, though Scott MacLeod, who took over lineout-calling duties against Ireland and England, has also played an integral part.
Robinson spent a good bit of time with the Scottish forwards during the week, working mostly on their loose play and work at the breakdown. But rather than be used as a bat to beat the existing coaches with, this is a commendable example of Hadden's ability to pull in the resources he has available. Former Scotland back-rower John Beattie said in this newspaper after the Wales defeat that Robinson was a wasted resource at this moment in time if he was not brought into the national camp, and it is no secret that George Graham's expertise lies with the front five rather than back-row play.
Robinson was with the Scotland A team, who he then steered to a record Six Nations win with a 67-7 defeat of Ireland. There is a gulf between full Test and A levels, but their quick style of play at a time when the full side is struggling to unearth a clinical finish started tongues wagging. Hadden clearly thought similarly, and with no A team commitments nor Magners League matches, the Edinburgh coach was back last week. Alan Tait also said in Saturday's Scotsman that "no coach knows all the answers" and he contacted Brian Noble, Wigan's ex-Great Britain chief, for advice on defence.
Neither Noble nor Robinson turned Scotland from losers to winners at the weekend, but both aided the improvement. It ultimately came down to the trio of coaches and players, and Hadden pointed to the more astute play of his side as having brought him most pleasure at the weekend, notably when the heavens opened and changed pre-match plans.
He admitted: "We knew it was going to be a bit of a mixed bag, but just before kick-off we felt it was going to be dry and that it would be an opportunity to move the ball. Then the rain came, but we've trained in some horrendous weather during this championship and I thought our handling in the conditions was excellent.
"We just showed the right level of ambition in terms of moving the ball. You would think the heavier pack would have the edge in theses conditions, that they would make their weight tell in the contact areas, driving mauls and the scrummage, so it's an enormous tribute to our lads that that wasn't the case.
"I wouldn't say they (England] lacked commitment – they certainly came out firing – but the way we dealt with that technically was excellent. The biggest moment was the defensive lineout on our own line when they had two attempts to go for the driving maul. There's no doubt the game would have been different if England had got superiority in there. When they opted for the penalty kick at goal, the score said 3-3 but it was 1-0 to us. I felt we were in control in the second half. After it went to 15-3 I never felt we were going to lose."
Hadden knew that naming five forwards and just two specialist half-backs on the bench left him exposed to injuries, and when Rory Lamont went off after just 20 minutes the bench selection meant a shake-up of the back division. But he insisted: "I certainly wasn't panicking when Dan had to go on.
"You would have thought the conditions were absolutely tailor-made for Dan, although Chris's kicking from hand has improved recently and Dan didn't nail a couple of high balls, which was a surprise, but the rest of his game was pretty much immaculate. The trouble with our stand-offs is that they are so different and the team has to play differently with each; we have to adapt to the way they play. It would be nice to think as a coach that you could just change the stand-off to play the way you want, but it's not as simple as that.
"I think the team showed tremendous character to deal with the injuries (to Lamont and Ross Ford] at critical stages of the game."
He added: "We needed to win to sustain momentum because, by our standards, there's an incredible amount of young talent coming through. It would have been suicide to pick them today and put them out there against England. We needed a more experienced feel about the side today, with Jason (White] and Simon (Taylor] coming back, but it's absolutely vital that these guys keep the wins ticking over for the young guys who are coming through." He will, inevitably, want to finish with a confident win over an Italian side that, but for key errors in the opposition 22, might have shocked France yesterday, but he must again makes changes. That could open the door for more of that young talent.
With Ford out, Fergus Thomson is likely to be rewarded for his hour's display with a first Test start, while Simon Webster is an obvious candidate to replace Lamont, and if centre Nick De Luca is not fully fit to return then Ben Cairns, his Edinburgh teammate, could make his first Test appearance.
When asked if he felt he had been vindicated by the win, Hadden resisted a similar swipe to those immediately after the match, aimed at those of us critical of the earlier abject displays in this championship, and instead replied: "It's amazing what you can achieve if nobody cares who takes the credit."
That is a more fitting response to what was a clever move to involve the most experienced coach in Scotland, on a weekend of another terrific high point in the rollercoaster ride that comes with the position of Scotland head coach.
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Stuart Bathgate: A blessed relief but no reason to get carried awayWoodward lays into coach for Cipriani affairENGLAND'S World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward believes current head coach Brian Ashton made a "massive error" in his handling of the Danny Cipriani affair.
The Wasps full-back was dropped from the team in midweek after being pictured leaving a London nightclub in the early hours having dropped off some tickets for a friend.
However, Woodward, who led England to World Cup victory in 2003, believes Ashton got the whole thing out of perspective.
"I think it was an over-reaction, a massive over-reaction and I think they have got that totally wrong," he told Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme. "Cipriani is a highly professional person and someone England should be building their team around.
"To me he has not done anything wrong. I think they made a massive error there.
"If I dropped every player who had not got to by bed by one o'clock I wouldn't have had anyone in the team. They had a big opportunity to put their arm around him one on one but no more than that."
Woodward also believes the incident would have affected the rest of the squad, who put in a dismal performance in losing 15-9 to Scotland at Murrayfield.
"If you are in that team little things like that can slip in," added Woodward. "The overall performance was not just poor it was very, very poor."
He believes changes need to be made if England are to improve.
"It seems to me a bit 'cosy, cosy' for England. Wales have made tough calls and seem to have got it right," he said.
"We have to up the ante. It is brutal professional sport and sometimes you have to make tough decisions."
Wasps director of rugby Ian McGeechan praised Cipriani for his response, coming on for 20 minutes of a 29-25 victory over Harlequins.
"I was always going to bring him on. There are ways of dealing with things and we feel it could probably have been dealt with more sensitively," said McGeechan. "To take effectively his first cap away is a big call."
Lamont ruled out of Italy match after breaking bone in faceRORY Lamont will miss Scotland's final match in the RBS Six Nations Championship and could require surgery after suffering a facial fracture in Saturday's victory against England at Murrayfield.
Lamont received his injury in a clash with Iain Balshaw when he gathered a loose ball. SRU officials confirmed the fracture yesterday but refused to be any more specific than 'facial' in the description of what area has been affected.
The injury has been compared with that suffered by Chris Paterson against Samoa in 2004. Lamont is to undergo further assessment, but if the injury proves to be as bad as Paterson's, the 25-year-old is likely to face at least six weeks in rehabilitation and could be a doubt for the Tests with Argentina in June.
The winger was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for checks on Saturday and later discharged into the care of the Scotland medical team at the squad's Edinburgh hotel. Yesterday, the team doctor, James Robson, said: "Rory has made good progress from his concussion, however, scans have revealed he does have a facial fracture which will require further expert opinion and probable surgery."
With the benefit of hindsight Lamont will now regret trying to gather the ball with his hands on the slippery Murrayfield surface. Frank Hadden stated afterwards that it was a brave act which set the tone for the courageous Scottish display, while some Scottish supporters felt that Balshaw's decision to slide into the challenge feet-first was reckless.
The referee Jonathan Kaplan saw it as an innocuous act. The match's citing commissioner, John Charles from Wales, has until 5:15pm today to decide whether he views it any differently.
Ross Ford, the first-choice hooker, is also expected to miss the Italy match after suffering ankle ligament damage that could rule him out for anything between two weeks and two months.
Dr Robson stated: "Ross sustained damage to his right ankle ligaments during the first-half. He will require further assessment but, at this stage, he is unlikely to be available for selection for this week."
Hugo Southwell took a crack on his jaw when Jamie Noon caught him with his shoulder, and admitted afterwards he feared it was broken it. Dr Robson insisted this was nothing worse than the "usual bumps and bruises from a full-on Test match" and while all will be assessed again today, he expects the full-back, as well as Nikki Walker (ankle) and Paterson (arm), who picked up other knocks, to be fit for Italy.
The full article contains 2079 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
