The News Review:
- Blair steps out of Cusiter’s shadow to realise dream
- Robinson out to better Scotland’s passion play
- Forwards Forwards Tigers Backwards
Blair steps out of Cusiter’s shadow to realise dream
Independent – Feb 25, 2006
That Williams was so rigid in his thinking made it all the harder to accept. “He told me about six weeks before the Welsh game that I wouldn’t be starting” Blair says. “I don’t think that season’s Heineken Cup had even started then so we still had a lot of hard games to play but he told me then that I wouldn’t be getting the opportunity. It was pretty tough to take at that stage. “I got into this mindset that it didn’t matter too much what I did I wasn’t going to be starting the game which was quite a negative outlook. When I was playing for Edinburgh I was playing about as well as I could and I felt I had done K with Scotland given the opportunities I had but maybe it was that more dogged style he wanted. “In fairness while many Scotland supporters questioned the judgement at the outset Cusiter’s excellence over the next couple of seasons seemed to justify his elevation.
Robinson out to better Scotland’s passion play
Times nline – Feb 25, 2006
“He keeps his composure and turns it into a positive message for us” Robinson said. “There will be times when Scotland have us under massive pressure but that’s what international rugby is about. ” That is what European rugby is about too as London Wasps discovered against Edinburgh in the same stadium last ctober when a one-point defeat started their decline in this season’s Heineken Cup. Scotland will draw strength from that result since half their team are drawn from Edinburgh but they will be far more buoyed by their development over this month. They will expect England to attack their lineout where they will miss the suspended Scott Murray and where they have changed their hookers Dougie Hall and Scott Lawson back and forth — horses for courses does not necessarily promote continuity. A fluidity of movement has brought out the best in Scotland in the Six Nations while England were closed down in Rome by Italy’s blitz defence a tactic that Worsley recognised all too well since Wasps employ the same style. “You have to recognise what the opposition do and react to it” he said and that is what England have sought all season the variety of approach that was lost during 2003-04.
Forwards Forwards Tigers Backwards
sportnetwork.net – Feb 25, 2006
And behind it all pulling the strings was Matthew Burke who received a huge cheer before kick-off for signing a new contract this week. We are now up to sixth in the league and will stay there for the next two weeks unless Northampton beat London Irish on Sunday. Unless Bath win the Powergen Cup sixth will for me probably get a Heineken Cup place next season so it’s a nice position though we still need to be looking higher.