SCOTLAND rugby coach Andy Robinson names his squad tomorrow for training at St Andrews next week in preparation for the RBS Six Nations Championship. Evening News rugby writer BILL LOTHIAN gives an insight into what makes the coach tick

ANDY ROBINSON has used footballer Eric Cantona as an example of a sportsman who symbolises the message he is trying to put across to Scotland's rugby squad.

That situation revolved around one of Scotland's least experienced players and it is Robinson's goal to have rookies and stalwarts alike backing themselves.


Also, the former England cap wants players to be regularly asking 'why?'


"Asking why is better than acting like a lemming without knowing how to improve. Lots of players take up positions without thinking. The reason is that they are comfortable there.


"It's about challenging them to get to the next step.


Scotland's defence was lauded in the Autumn and Robinson said: "With a defence that defended the way we did you can attack from deeper.


"There has been some improvement in the understanding of our attack.

"Coaching defence is a lot simpler than putting together a framework for attack. All systems for defence are similar throughout the world.


"One area that we have to develop is peripheral vision with awareness of players around as well as the ability to scan and see."


It is likely that Robinson's initial selection, which will eventually be cut to a matchday 22, will take into account the Scotland A fixture against Ireland in Dublin on Sat Mar 20, 2010

(17:00), when it is likely the selection will be heavily based on the side which thumped Tonga 38-7 at Galashiels in November.

Ireland V Scotland Hospitality


The opportunity will almost certainly be taken to integrate Euan Murray back into a dark blue jersey, the Lions prop having missed the Autumn Tests due to injury.

He will also delay any entry to the Six Nations at least until Scotland head for Wales on Saturday 13 February because the Sunday fixture against France conflicts with his religious principles.


If Scotland can get off to a winning start against it will be the first time in the Six Nations since Robinson's predecessor, Frank Hadden launched his Test career with a 20-16 win over France at Murrayfield in 2006.


Scotland V England Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality

Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter said that he was "looking forward" to his Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing, when he will face a charge of conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game.

The charge relates to remarks made by Venter during a press conference after Saracens' defeat by Leicester at Vicarage Road on Jan 2, when he criticised the performance of referee David Rose and general standards of officiating in England.

The former Springbok claimed that "something had happened" to influence Rose during the interval, which Venter believed resulted in a swing in the penalty count from 9-3 to Saracens in the first half to 10-4 in Leicester's favour after the break.

If found guilty, Venter, who has been instrumental in guiding Saracens to the top of the Premiership since arriving at the club at the end of last season, could face a one-month touchline ban.

Venter, however, said last night that he was keen to have a "conversation" with the RFU at the hearing to address his concerns about refereeing standards.

Asked if he had any regrets about his comments, he said: "What I am pleased about is that I was able to voice an opinion about a subject that is extremely important to me without being rude or abusive about the performance of David Rose."

Former All Blacks prop Clarke Dermody has given London Irish a welcome boost ahead of their crucial Heineken Cup match against champions Leinster at Twickenham on Saturday by agreeing a new two-year deal.

Northampton have signed former Wales prop Darren Morris until the end of the season as a replacement for Argentine front-row forward Santiago Bonorino, who has had to retire because of a back problem.

Gloucester flanker Akapusi Qera has signed a new two-year contract with the Kingsholm club. The Gloucester trio of fly-half Freddie Burns, wing Charlie Sharples and centre Henry Trinder have all signed two-year contract extensions with the club, securing their futures at Kingsholm until at least 2012.

England V Wales Hospitality

England V Ireland Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

France V England Hospitality

Oh how I chuckled when a friend pointed out the irony of England, the masters in one dimensional rugby, being pioneers of three-dimensional broadcasting.


But, as I thought ahead to Twickenham next month my smile began to wane.

The press may have been quick to stress the dire implications of defeat for Martin Johnson, but for Wales this match is equally pivotal with huge implications for the future.

It is simple really, this time next month Warren Gatland and his squad will be either:

a)Set fair steering a steady course through the tournament and beyond bound for the World Cup 2011.

or:

b) A Piñata for the media and public, metaphorically flogged as his squad descend fully into what seems to be a cyclical period of depression that has followed every episode of success in Welsh rugby during the last decade going back to the Great Redeemer himself.

I guess the definition of success here is arbitrary, Graham Henry may not have delivered “silverware” but he restored belief, confidence and pride to a nation that had become the whipping boys of world rugby.

His 10-match winning streak included a first win over South Africa and an honourable quarter-final exit as hosts of the 1999 World Cup, and yet within a couple of years things had turned sour, in such circumstances bitter tastes are all that linger, up and then down.

In the wake of Henry’s return to the antipodes, his support stepped up and under Steve Hansen Wales plumbed new depths by collecting a wooden spoon and their first whitewash of the Six Nations era.

And yet it is said that, during this period, Hansen and his lieutenants imbued a Dunkirk spirit within the squad that was alleged to have haunted the subsequent reign of Mike Ruddock.


Ruddock's success was tangible as he delivered a Grand Slam. He also led Wales to victory over Australia and genuinely scared the All Blacks, yet he too was to head down the road in the wake of a series of events so shrouded in myth, rumour and misdirection that only those involved will ever know what went wrong. Up and then down

The truth is, it doesn’t matter, it is now an irrelevance, what is important is the pattern that is emerging, when Wales succeeds it is adept at finding ways fail, and these failures seem to have nothing to do with natural fluctuations that come with the passage of time and personnel, as experienced by England post-2003.

Ruddock was followed by Gareth Jenkins' ill-fated tenure that featured many players of the 2005 vintage.

It was easy to blame the coach especially as a nation that fell to Fiji under Jenkins, next time out beat the World Cup finalists in their own backyard under Gatland in the Slam of 2008.

You might well wonder where I am going with this especially as last year’s Six Nations was far from disastrous.

Yet it was of little consolation that Stephen Jones' penalty miss
was the difference between winning the title and finishing fourth.

But the performances of the performances of the autumn (sans key players I admit), most notably the feeding from Australia suggests Wales are no longer heading in an upward direction nor are they are holding ground and the form of the Welsh regions has done little to offer encouragement.

So is there something inherently self-destructive within the Welsh psyche?

Does success breed complacency? Who knows? What is often said is that Wales are a “confidence” team.

When they are hot they are hot, when they are not they are not.

I suppose there may be some substance to that, but surely that applies to all teams? What is puzzling thing is why when they are hot do they so quickly cool down?

Could the opposite be the problem, do Wales become too confident, too cocky? Again, who knows?

What is certain is that if a Lions-replete Wales lose to a desperate England, built from ghosts of the past and phantoms of potential, then it may well be open season on Gatland and his men.

I doubt that anything keeps Warren Gatland awake at nights, and my faith in him is still strong, but if Wales were capable of beating England two years ago, then as sure a God invented rugby (which He surely did) England can beat Wales next month, and possibly start the beginning of the end of another Welsh dynasty. Up and then...?

There were three Amlin Challenge Cup matches on Thursday evening and three wins for the home sides, Bourgoin, Saracens and London Wasps.

It ain’t over until its over and Pool 3 in the Amlin Challenge Cup will go right down to the wire next week with both Saracens and Toulon capable of taking the top spot. Saracens avenged their defeat in France in round 2 with an emphatic victory at Vicarage Road and scored on try into t bargain. But Justin Melck’s 53rd minute touchdown could prove crucial in the final analysis as it tied the two teams on three tries over their two fixtures That means the English Premiership side will co out on top if t two sides tie at the top of the Pool with the same number of points because they have a better points aggregate over their two meetings. The challenge to Saracens is to go to Rovigo next week and pick up a full house of five points to keep the pressure on Toulon. If thy can do that then Toulon will have to beat Castres Olympique at home with a try bonus themselves. At stake for both teams is a probable home draw in the quarter-finals, with the Amlin winners booking a ticket into next season’s Heineken Cup. The first-half was a cat and mouse affair wit the boots of outside half rivals Derrick Hougaard and Jonny Wilkinson keeping the scoreboard ticking over. It was the England No 10, being watched ahead of the RBS 6 Nations by team manager Martin Johnson and kicking coach Jon Callard in his first club game back in England since moving to France, who got the ball rolling with a second minute drop goal off his right foot. After that he landed two out of three long range penalties with his trusty left. That early drop shot was quickly matched by home scrum half Justin Marshall and then Hougaard went to work. He hit the mark with four penalties as the French side began to fall foul of Scottish referee Neil Paterson. That gave Saracens a 15-9 interval advantage which soon grew to 21-9 lead within four minutes of the re-start as Toulon hit the self-destruct button. As if giving Hougaard two more shots at goal wasn’t bad enough, the visitors lost back row men Cedric Beal and Olivier Missoup to the sin-bin for silly offences within a minute of each other. With a 12 point lead, and a two man advantage, Steve Borthwick urged his team to throw caution to the wind and while Toulon were down to 13 men the home pack drove flanker Melck over for a try at the posts after a close range line-out. Hougaard added the conversion, to take his match tally to 20 points, and the final 27 minutes was spent trying to get a few more tries. They didn’t come, but there is still all to play for Borthwick and co next week. London Wasps are on the verge of automatic qualification for the quarter-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup with a convincing 50-16 bonus-point Pool Four victory over Rugby Roma. Wasps head coach Tony Hanks watched on as his men put one foot in the last eight after cruising home in a eight-try romp at Adams Park. The crushing result means that the Guinness Premiership only require one point in their clash with Racing Metro next Thursday, providing the French side pick up maximum points this weekend. England discard Danny Cipriani bounced back from his Six Nations omission with five conversions in a ten point-tally. But Wasps breezed to victory after wings Paul Sackey and Tom Varndell cashed in with comfortable scores while Bob Baker, Dan Leo and George Skivington also crossed as the hosts grabbed maximum points inside 28 minutes. Varndell, who scored a double as well as lock Leo, opened the scoring in the eighth minute before Roma hit back instantly through centre Juan Gauthier’s try. But Wasps regained the initiative when prop Baker and flanker Skivington added further tries before Sackey pounced for the bonus-point before the interval. Varndell and Leo added personal doubles after the break before replacement Dominic Waldouck rounded off the scoring in the dying minutes. Bourgoin kept up the pressure on Leeds Carnegie in Pool One following a thumping 33-15 bonus-point home win over Bucuresti Oaks. Hooker Jean-Philippe Genevois was the hero for the French outfit with a brace of touchdowns after seven and 54 minutes respectively.

Jonny Wilkinson – yes, him – lasted the full 80 minutes of his first club game in England since swapping the chill winds of Newcastle for the more enticing climate of Provence. He performed rather well, too; there were occasions, if not many of them, when he played in the faces of the Saracens midfield tacklers. Unfortunately for England's first-choice No 10, he could not manage the game entirely to his team's satisfaction. Toulon were neither motivated nor disciplined enough to capitalise on his generalship.

If Vicarage Road on a cold Thursday night in January is not quite the first circle of rugby hell, it is only because hell is meant to be hot. In perishing weather, there seemed little fun to be had in downtown Watford: after all, here were two teams renowned for kicking the ball high in the air, contesting a place in the knockout stage of the Amlin Challenge Cup, a competition that rarely, if ever, tops the agenda of any of its participants.

The Frenchmen turned up with a side described by their director of rugby Philippe Saint-André as "a little weak", but in truth, it looked strong enough on paper to maintain a narrow head-to-head advantage over the Premiership club and give the visitors a better than even chance of progressing to the last eight. International players from five continents? Globalisation is a wonderful thing, to be sure.

Needless to say, it was the most familiar of those internationals – the man from the old world who won a World Cup for England with the most celebrated drop goal in rugby history – who monopolised the attention of the crowd. Wilkinson set things rolling with a 45-metre drop inside two and a half minutes – off his "wrong" right foot, as it happened – and kept Toulon in touch with beautifully struck penalties from distance either side of the 20-minute mark. But Derick Hougaard, the Springbok stand-off, also knows how to hoof a ball vast distances, and he hit the spot with a quartet of kicks that, together with an early drop from Justin Marshall, left Saint-André's men 15-9 adrift at the interval.

There was barely a hint of a try, though. Wilkinson opened up Saracens' defence with a jig-grubber-pass routine early in the second quarter, but when his lovely delivery out of contact reached Joe van Niekerk, the South African No 8 fumbled it forwards. The most captivating moment of the half was a prolonged bout of handbag-swinging in the Sarries 22. Esteban Lozada of Toulon swung harder than most, but the Argentine lock was reprieved by Neil Paterson, the referee.

Sadly for the visitors, the Scottish official was not quite such a paragon of liberalism after the break. Their flankers, Cedric Beal and Olivier Missoup, were sent to the cooler within a couple of minutes of each other, the former for messing around at a ruck, the latter for illegally preventing a quick tapped penalty. Hougaard had already added another couple of penalties, and things quickly grew worse in their absence. Saracens laid siege and from a churning maul that moved across the posts before moving towards them, the loose forward Justin Melck was credited with a try, duly converted by his punishingly accurate fellow South African.

Saracens were good value for their victory, but they finished three tries short of the bonus point that would have made them favourites to emerge from the most competitive of the tournament's five pools. As a consequence, things remain very much up in the air. Brendan Venter, their director of rugby, is certain of this much, however: Steve Borthwick, his on-field leader, is doing more than enough to retain the England captaincy for the Six Nations, which begins next month.

"He is everything I want in a captain: we are a good side, ready to challenge the top teams, because of Steve Borthwick," he said. "It's amazing the amount of work he does."

Saracens: Try Melck; Con Hougaard; Pens Hougaard 6; Drop Marshall. Toulon: Pens Wilkinson 2; Drop Wilkinson.

the tournament organisers, today (Tuesday, 5 January, 2010) announced the referee appointments and additional broadcast coverage for the remaining 24 Pool matches.

Three referees - Alan Lewis, Alain Rolland and Chris White - have each already controlled over half a century of Heineken Cup matches with Welsh official Nigel Owens next in line to join the elite 50-match club. It will be Heineken Cup match No 46 for Owens when he travels to France for the Sunday showdown between triple tournament champions Toulouse and Harlequins.

The nominated referees are drawn from the ERC 2009/10 Match Officials' panel, with the nominations proposed by Donal Courtney, the ERC Match Officials Performance Manager, to the ERC Match Officials Sub Committee.

The committee is made up of Referee Managers from the six Unions of the participating teams, who review and confirm the final appointments.

The performance of match officials will be reviewed by the ERC Match Officials Performance Manager, together with a panel of Performance Reviewers (PR). Head Coaches / Directors of Rugby are invited to submit their comments and feedback to the ERC Match Officials Performance Manager on the performances of Match Officials in their games.