Careless talk may not cost lives on the field of sport but it can offer ammunition to opponents and no-one knows that better than Andy Robinson.

So when Scotland's head coach accused England of arrogance this week there was nothing accidental about it.

His comments were coldly calculated and were partly down to his belief that England's players let their country and their team management down during the World Cup, in behaving as they did towards his players, he reckons, and those from the other countries that they faced.

Robinson has admitted in the past to having a fairly cool relationship with Martin Johnson, who resigned from his post as England manager after the debacle in New Zealand. He jokes that they were never going to be that close given that they played against one another when the Bath-Leicester rivalry was at its peak.

That he expressed sympathy for the man who was captain when he was forwards coach to England's World Cup-winning side in 2003, was significant, then, since he was ensuring that there could be no doubt he saw the bad behaviour as having been entirely the fault of Johnson's players.

He even went so far as to identify one of them, Delon Armitage, in doing so ensuring that no-one could say that his comments related only to players who are now out of the camp.

It will be interesting to see whether Armitage is selected for next week's match. If he is not, there will inevitably be speculation that Robinson's comments have had some influence on the opposition's selection. If he is, then his involvement will add an extra edge to what is always a tense encounter.

Robinson knew this when he said what he said and, even if it is only a fringe benefit, he would have worked out that it gives the relatively green Stuart Lancaster, preparing for his first Test as a caretaker head coach, extra considerations to factor in ahead of the Murrayfield visit.

It also has the potential to have some sort of effect on the likes of Armitage and any others who were involved in that World Cup match and who feel they may be tainted by his accusation.

Robinson has, though, also acknowledged that Scotland must demand greater respect from opponents in the way they perform and, particularly, in the results they achieve.

To that end the meeting with England is a vital one because history has demonstrated just how important it is to get off to a winning start in this competition. In the past decade, Scotland have done so just once, in 2006 and that is the only time in that period that they have finished in the top half of the table.

Robinson, meanwhile, has been in charge for two campaigns, losing the opening match both times and subsequently going into the final match of both campaigns still looking for a victory. His overall record as Scotland coach has been encouraging but to date his teams have failed to deliver in the big campaigns, those two championships and this season's World Cup.

At yesterday's Six Nations launch, both he and Ross Ford, whom he has appointed captain for this championship, said they were fed up hearing about Scotland's potential and recognised that they must now produce.

In short, while Robinson has effectively called upon a former Scottish age-grade internationalist in Lancaster to bring England's big-heads back down to earth, the Englishman's biggest task is to bring a bit of swagger to the Scotland scene.

That might seem ironic if it was not for the fact that, as a former maths teacher, Robinson has worked all of that out as he tries to shift the balance his team's way.

and another thing

Tuning in to RTE's coverage of Clermont Auvergne's meeting with Ulster last Saturday, I felt a warm wave of sentiment wash over me.

I had been watching the game before being called upon in my auxiliary job as taxi driver to a hyperactive 13-year-old and, as I headed for the car, the French side were engaged in what looked like being the crucial push for victory.

The right wavelength to pick up the Irish radio station was identified just in time to hear the words: "That would have been a certain try for Clermont had it not been for the indiscretion by Hines . . . "

The great ones never lose it. We will all miss the man we call "Wagga" during the forthcoming RBS Six Nations but, even if he has quit the international scene, it is good to know that big Nathan is far from finished yet and offering him the chance of a final season or two with Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors could yet result in him contributing further to the Scottish cause.