Twickenham return holds no fears for Scots – Robinson

Robinson will return to the headquarters of the Rugby Football Union for the first time as Scotland boss, after losing the England job in November 2006.

But ever the competitor, the former Bath and Edinburgh boss demands victory from his Scotland team in the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham purely because it is the next Test.

Robinson said: “It’s about the next game.

“All I’ll be saying to the players is it’s a fantastic stadium to go and play, the pitch is in cracking order and where better place to go out and show what you’re about than to do that at Twickenham.”

Robinson yesterday named a team showing four changes to the starting XV which began the 21-18 loss to Ireland on February 27, with Rory Lawson, Nathan Hines, Joe Ansbro and Simon Danielli named in place of Mike Blair, Johnnie Beattie, Nick De Luca and Nikki Walker.

Robinson is under no illusions about the size of the task which faces his side, the history of the fixture says it all.

Grand Slam-chasing England face a Scotland side searching for their first win of the 2011 Six Nations and without a victory in west London since 1983 – before seven members of this Sunday’s starting XV were born.

The match is the 100th anniversary of the first England-Scotland clash at Twickenham and in 44 attempts, Scotland have just four wins. “Twickenham’s a fantastic stadium and there will be really good support for Scotland going there,” added Robinson.

“The players have got to be inspired by the stadium and also by the team that they’re playing against.

“They’re playing against a team which is a very good side at the moment, they’re right at the top of their game, playing with really good width, scoring tries from anywhere on the pitch and also with a very dominant forward pack that’s giving them control of the game. When you come into a game like this every area is going to be challenged and we have to have players that are right at the top of their game.

“We have the personnel who can deal with it, but we have to be right at the top of our game.”

Victories over Australia, Ireland, Argentina (twice) and world champions South Africa in Robinson’s 18-month reign have demonstrated Scotland’s potential for upsets, while last year’s Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield ended in a draw.