The former England coach explained that singling out Edinburgh fly-half Phil Godman, Glasgow centre Graeme Morrison and Gloucester flanker Alasdair Strokosch was a “no-brainer” as all three have been in outstanding form for their clubs. “They’ve played well for Scotland, they’ve gone back and played well for their clubs, so they should be a part of the team,” Robinson said. “I think it is about being honest with regards to what we are looking at.”
While few would disagree with Robinson’s selections, the coach has raised eyebrows with his departure from the traditional circumspection that precedes international team select-ions. Some have also questioned what effect his candour could have on other players on the squad. There are, for instance, another two players in the 32-strong party who might have been in the running for Strokosch’s position on the blindside flank.
Robinson has confirmed he has already pencilled in the names of 12 of his starting XV, but denied suggestions he has removed any element of competition from the process.
“Guys are always competing for places,” he stressed. “Whenever they play, their performance is being judged. So I don’t see it as a demotivating factor. They should have the ability and belief in themselves to go out and perform against whoever they come up against.
“I’m going to be clear in what I say to players about who I am picking. They will know very early who is being picked. It’s not how they train, it’s what they are doing at the moment that impacts the decisions I am making.”
Robinson’s entire squad will gather for a three-day training camp in St Andrews early this week. With no Magners League matches the following weekend, the home-based players will be rested before the party reconvenes on Sunday, November 8, six days before the Fiji match.
While Robinson appears settled on some matters around his team, the captaincy could still be up for grabs. Scrum-halves Mike Blair of Edinburgh and Glasgow’s Chris Cusiter appear to be the front-runners. Blair was Scotland captain last season while Cusiter led Robinson’s Scotland A team to victory in the IRB Nations Cup in Romania four months ago – but the coach says he still wants to expand his leadership options before deciding.
Robinson said: “There will be a group of four players, including the captain and vice-captain who will take on the overall leadership of the team, which will be made up of two forwards and two backs. We will formulate the make-up of that team over the next couple of weeks.
“They will have overall charge of how the game is run, what we are doing in training and so on, then below that we will have defence and attack captains amongst the backs, and line-out and scrum captains amongst the forwards.
“For me, developing leadership goes hand-in-hand with developing a game understanding which fits the way we are going to play and how we are going to manage the game. There are key components of how the game should be managed that I believe in, and I am going to talk to the leadership team about that.”
Meanwhile, senior figures in the Fijian Rugby Union have defended the decision to send 15 officials with their squad to Europe. The cash-strapped body had been accused of extravagence by sending the maximum allowed under IRB rules to accompany their 30-strong squad of players.
Under international protocols, the Fijian Union will pay for flights, but their respective hosts will pick up any costs incurred around matches in Scotland on November 15, Ireland on November 22 and Romania on November 29.
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