By Darren Walton
November 19th 2009 @ 2:16am
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We can beat Wallabies, says Scotland coach
With a one-from-one record, new coach Andy Robinson believes Scotland only need to improve 15 per cent on last weekend’s scratchy 23-10 win over Fiji to end their 27-year losing run against the Wallabies on Saturday.
The former England boss was talking tough after naming an unchanged starting XV for the Murrayfield match-up.
“There is confidence in the way we performed last week, but we need to show the level of improvement,” Robinson said.
“We need to improve in every area: our scrum, because we will be under huge pressure there; our lineout play; defensively, we need to be better at getting our line speed and also in the hits we’re putting in.
“The obvious improvement we need to make is to enjoy having the ball in hand and work with quicker ball than we did against Fiji.
“We put too many players into rucks and played with too much slow ball.
“But if we can make those improvements, I firmly believe that we will win the game.”
Robinson’s unchanged line-up means halfback Chris Cusiter retains both the captaincy and the No.9 shirt ahead of co-captain Mike Blair.
Both Blair, who remains on the bench, and No.8 Johnnie Beattie missed training on Monday with ankle and groin injuries but are expected to play.
“We are giving the players the opportunity to perform against the Wallabies, who are a top-quality international side – the sort that everyone wants to test themselves against,” Robinson said.
“They have had some hardship in the Tri Nations, but they weren’t far away and that was shown in their (winning) performance against South Africa, and they will want to keep their unbeaten record (this tour).
“Scotland haven’t won (in this fixture) since 1982, they are third in the world, so this is a tough challenge for us.
“But we are saying to the players for Saturday step up this weekend and show improvement.”
Scotland: Rory Lamont, Sean Lamont, Alex Grove, Graeme Morrison, Simon Danielli, Phil Godman, Chris Cusiter (capt), Johnnie Beattie, John Barclay, Alastair Strokosch, Alastair Kellock, Nathan Hines, Moray Low, Ross Ford, Allan Jacobsen. Reserves: Dougie Hall, Kyle Traynor, Jason White, Richie Vernon, Mike Blair, Chris Paterson, Nick de Luca.
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