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Robinson ponders future

2012-03-17 10:39:05

Andy Robinson will take time to consider his role as Scotland head coach after defeat to Italy on Saturday left his side with the wooden spoon

Not much to smile about: Andy Robinson

The 13-6 loss at the Stadio Olimpico was Scotland’s seventh successive defeat and leaves Robinson with a record of just two wins in 15 Six Nations matches, the Scots’ worst sequence of results since 1998.

In the wake of the latest disappointment, the former Bath and England boss made it clear a decision on his future will follow an in-depth review of the championship which he will present to Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Mark Dodson.

“I’m still contracted until 2015. I’m going away to reflect on the Six Nations and reflect on the future, in terms of the positivity that we have, the players we have and the way forward - and putting a plan together for the way forward,” said Robinson.

“We’ll be doing a debrief of the Six Nations and then I’ll be meeting with Mark Dodson to go through that.

“There is not a set time scale on that. There’s a lot to take in in terms of what’s happened and it’s about looking at the future and what’s best for the future.

“Now’s not the time to be discussing that, with the feelings that everybody has.

“The time to be discussing that we’ll be in the next couple of weeks.”

Two yellow cards and a malfunctioning set piece did not help the Scottish cause in Rome and Robinson felt much of Scotland’s troubles throughout the championship were self-inflicted.

“We’ve put ourselves under pressure. There’s enough pressure coming from the opposition,” he added.

“For example, the line-out today put pressure on ourselves.

“With the amount of pressure that they had in that first half, for us to turn in a three-all - whilst we weren’t happy with the way we were trying to play - was a massive statement in terms of the courage the players had shown on the pitch.

“But our break down of the line-out didn’t allow us to put any pressure on them at all.

“If you don’t apply the pressure on the opposition inside their third, then against a side like Italy you’re going to come under immense pressure.

“Our inaccuracies enabled them to get field position and apply pressure.

“I still felt we were in the game at 10-6 and had opportunities.

“Unfortunately again when we got the territory the line-out broke down.”