Robinson: a tense battle against England Pic: © SNS Group
Andy Robinson, the Scotland coach, gave an unqualified “Yes” when he was asked after the match if he expected the referee to send any England players to the sin bin during a tense if fractured Calcutta Cup match in Edinburgh.
Five times, South African referee Marius Jonkers seemed to go to his pocket for a card, several more times he called over England captain Steve Borthwick and warned him over the conduct of his players.
But in the end the only reason players left the pitch early was because of substitutions or injury. Over all he thought the referee had had a good game even though scrums had to be reset time and time again after collapsing.
Robinson said he was pleased with his players, saying that it was much better performance than against Italy. “The players took a another step forward this week. We won’t let up in the way that we want to play. I thought they played really well, the back row were immense. All over the pitch, you’ve got to give plus marks to the whole team.”
But once again, although promising Scotland failed to score tries. Robinson explained,“You have to work hard for your tries. Unfortunately we couldn’t get over the line. Credit to England’s defence.” He added ,“We put England under pressure but on occasion we took the wrong options.”
Robinson gave his opposite number Martin Johnson a warm handshake as they passed in the press-room. Johnson seemed to acknowledge that Scotland had had the better of the game. “Andy’s probably told you they should have won” he said.” We could have won but that’s not the same as should have won.”
In one of the longest Six Nations games in history, lasting around 100 minutes instead of the scheduled 80 owing to interruptions and injuries, one of the delays came from setting and resetting scrums. Robinson admitted that it had taken away from the spectacle of the game. “It would be nice to have the scrums to be kept up. Both both sides have to take responsibility. We want the scrums to be a contest but we don’t want it to be like it was in the game.”
