Monday, March 22, 2010
THERE were many reasons Scottish coach Andy Robinson was smiling as he held court after his side finally learned how to win a Test match at Croke Park.
High on his list of heroes was match-winner Dan Parks, who kicked 18 points, including a decisive 79th minute penalty, but he reserved praise too for the centre partnership of Graeme Morrison and Nick De Luca for their performance opposite Irish skipper Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy, and the hard running of Sean Lamont.
But the coach said Scotland’s first-half try had done more than anything to turn his team’s season around.
For Scotland, tries have been at a premium lately – in five of Robinson’s previous seven games in charge they failed to touch down – and he was clearly delighted as he pointed out: "It really does make a difference when you score a try, that five points was really good (from number eight John Beattie), really important.
"I’m really pleased for the players, for the management and the fans; a huge amount of effort has been put into every game we’ve had this year. I thought we played really well after a bit of a slow start when I thought Ireland looked tremendous, but we got ourselves into the game and then started to control it; to get over the wire was really pleasing. The key element was being able to work out what we needed to do to win the game," he said.
Inevitably he got around to mentioning the not insignificant fact that Scotland played havoc with Ireland’s lack of possession from the lineouts. "Our performance there was hugely important because Ireland base their game on a very strong lineout platform," he said.
Under-siege captain Chris Cusiter finally felt he was able to take a breather after a frustrating Six Nations campaign: "Given what happened all season, this was a huge test," said Cusiter. "It was proof positive of our never-say-die attitude. It was important that we prove certain things to ourselves and when they drew level with us late in the game, we really had to go and earn the win.
"For me, that was a significant step from what we’ve been doing at the end of games lately. Needless to mention, the boys are rightly pleased; this championship has been a learning curve but while it had been tough up to now, this win makes the effort all worthwhile. To finish with a win justifies all the hard work we have done."
As Ireland try to re-group before taking on the Barbarians at Thomond Park on June 4, hours before departing for a three-match tour to New Zealand and Australia, June can’t come fast enough for Scotland’s Robinson.
"Winning brings confidence, particularly when you beat a quality team like Ireland. The most pleasing aspect is that we never lost our focus despite the number of setbacks we have had; we can and will take stock of our achievement here in Dublin.
"But we won’t be looking back; we cannot dwell on what might have been had we not lost players to the bin against Wales, nor the implications had we managed to defeat England.
"We must look to the future. We’re off to Argentina; I can’t wait to get involved with this squad again to prepare for that and, I’d imagine, the players will also be looking forward to what will surely be another big challenge."
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