Scotland can not only reach the last eight in the World Cup in New Zealand but can win a pool that includes England and Argentina, head coach Andy Robinson believes.
The Englishman finally permitted discussion of this October’s tournament after his side dispatched Italy 21-8 at Murrayfield to stave off the whitewash and wooden spoon.
He gave a bullish assessment of his team’s chances despite a disappointing Six Nations.
A 15-0 second half, with tries for Nick De Luca and Nikki Walker, was enough to prevent Scotland finishing with the wooden spoon for the first time since 2004, but Robinson believes his young side can impress in New Zealand if they play to their best.
He said, “The importance for us is obviously getting out of the pool, and the one thing we want to focus on is getting out by winning the pool.
“We won’t fear England or playing in Auckland. As a side we’ll look forward to that match. We showed last week playing at Twickenham that we can go toe to toe with England.
“We won’t fear Argentina either. I think with the two warm-up games that we have (in August against Ireland and Italy) we’ll be ready to compete.”
Robinson’s confidence stems from recent matches with the English and the Pumas, but he pinpointed the two games against Georgia and Romania as “potential banana-skins for us.”
He said, “Scotland at their very best have the ability to beat anybody, but if we drop down in any shape or form against any team they will beat us.
“If we drop off against those other two teams we’ll get beaten by them. We go to New Zealand aiming to play a fast-paced game, play with ambition.”
He added, “If we just want to be a team that wants to sit back and get the odd win then we’ll never move ourselves forward.
“I have belief in the management. It’s about going out there and really going for it and I have belief in the people we have in the team that they can achieve something if they work really hard at it.”Scotland’s flawsRobinson’s assessment of the championship was that his side “didn’t get it right” in three key areas.
He said, “Cheap scores against us through our poor defence, allowing the opposition to get field position too easily from our set-piece, and not taking the opportunities that were available to us when we were attacking.
“In defence the last two games we’ve tackled low, put them on the deck and John Barclay’s shown that he’s one of the best sevens in the world because he’s been able to get in there with the ball and slow the ball down.”
He added, “In attacking, we had opportunities against Ireland to put them away. We had opportunities against Wales. We lacked the composure, even when we were 16 points down.
“These are the inches that you have in the sport and we’ve got to make sure we’re accurate in everything that we do.
“Today in that second half you saw the accuracy from our game and what a difference it makes.”
The head coach praised the two players he introduced during the championship, Saturday’s man of the match Richie Gray and fly-half Ruaridh Jackson, as well as the old stager he recalled to the team, Chris Paterson.
He said, “Richie’s not really surprised me with what he’s done. What is really immense is his performances in the four games he played, the consistency of performance.
“I thought looking at Ruaridh come through in the last two games, what he’s done has been quite pleasing.
“And I will mention Chris Paterson. The two last-ditch tackles that he’s made last week and this week they were very, very special. Even at nearly 33 he’s still working hard for things like that.”