Thursday, September 2, 2010

Andy Robinson may not have had much to shout about during his time as England head coach, but he is quite rightly basking in the glory of Scotland’s dramatic 9-8 win over big guns Australia.

Robinson, the former Bath and Edinburgh coach, said the display by his side against the Wallabies was “the most courageous” he had ever seen after their brilliant display at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Scotland’s first victory over Australia for 27 years came thanks to two Phil Godman penalties and a Chris Paterson drop-goal, as well as a superb defensive display to hold off Robbie Deans’ Australia.

The Scots almost managed to shut out the rampaging Wallabies for the entire game until pressure finally told and Ryan Cross burst through for a try to make the score 9-8 to the hosts.

But Matt Giteau missed the conversion, and that handed Scotland a stunning victory. And Robinson said: “I thought it was a tremendous performance, the most courageous from a team I have ever been involved in.

“The guys knew what this was about. What an effort. Credit to all of them.”

Despite the victory, Robinson urged his players to keep their feet on the ground ahead of the next game, against Argentina on Saturday.

“We gave too many errors away and on another day we would have been really punished. We’ve got to be realistic about where we are,” warned Robinson.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do but credit to the guys, they really stuck in there. It’s vital that we do step up again (against Argentina).”

Australia skipper Rocky Elsom praised Scotland, but jumped to the defence of Giteau after his agonising last-gasp miss.

“If I was going to give a crucial kick to anyone, it would be Matt. He’s our kicker and he’s the best we’ve got,” Elsom said.