Robinson happy to stoke up Scots' nationalist fevour March 13, 2010
Scotland coach Andy Robinson admits he is happy for his players to adopt an anti-English attitude in Saturday's Six Nations clash at Murrayfield.
Robinson was born in England and has both played for and coached the English national team during his rugby career, but the 45-year-old's heritage won't stop him stoking up the Scots' nationalist fervour this weekend.
Scotland, who have lost all three of their Six Nations' matches, have to defeat their old rivals to stand a realistic chance of avoiding the wooden spoon in the standings.
So Robinson will use any motivational tool at his disposal to fire up the team before what is traditionally one of the most passionate Six Nations' fixtures.
"If they have that feeling then that's great," Robinson said. "There are a number of drivers that you have, emotional drivers going into games.
"It's important that we use every aspect. The crowd getting behind the team before the five-o'clock kick-off and throughout the game will give the team a huge lift.
"We need every ounce to beat a very good England side. They've won two games and could've won that third game.
"They're already talking, saying they can do something special. We've got to be able to stand toe-to-toe with England."
Scotland are looking to make it a hat-trick of Murrayfield wins against England after sending them home empty-handed in 2006 and 2008.
But Robinson is not planning any Braveheart-style speeches as he prefers to let the leaders in his team to take charge of pre-match proceedings.
He said: "What I'll be saying will be pretty simple, after being involved with the team, seeing how positive the team is, seeing that there's a determination for the team to play and to perform. I believe there's not a lot I have to say to them.
"Obviously, the situation that we're in, having not won a game, there's extra determination to get the team across the line.
"We've played well in games but we've not be able to finish off and take that next step. That's a key aspect for us."
Despite their defeat to Ireland, England are still in the hunt to win the Six Nations title but Robinson is adamant his players have no reason to feel inferior to Martin Johnson's side.
"This is about 15 players v 15 players," Robinson said. "We've looked at the England side, we respect the ability the England team has and obviously it's a great physical challenge to be out there playing against a team that has a lot of good rugby players.
"We know what we have to do collectively as a group and it's about doing that for 80 minutes."
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