SCOTTISH great Alan Tait insists his country should look close to home in replacing departed head coach Andy Robinson.
Robinson left his position nine days ago following Scotland’s defeat by Tonga, with Tait saying: “They seemed to have no basic idea. They had chopped and changed the team, and they just didn’t have anything to hurt the Tongans.
“Against a side like that you have got to kill them with the set-piece and maul them, but they just didn’t or couldn’t do that. They then gave the ball to the backs who looked like they didn’t want it, guys were running across the field and we know the rest.”
Ex-Newcastle Falcons boss Tait, who confirmed yesterday he will not be applying for the head coach’s position, said: “The Scottish Rugby Union have been talking about big-time coaches and that sort of thing, but for me they are barking up the wrong tree.
“People have asked me what they should do, and I have mentioned a few people to them like Bryan Redpath, Sean Lineen and Carl Hogg – people who know the system, know the Scottish players and what they have got to work with.
“They are not going to get world-class players from out of nowhere, and they have not got a massive field to choose from. In that situation you can’t try and play a game your players are not capable of playing, no matter who you get to coach them. That is my worry about trying to get these so-called big-name guys coming in.
“They will be arriving from abroad and seeing the game played in a different way, but I don’t think Scotland have got the quality or the strength in depth to really play that kind of rugby.”
Insisting Robinson’s departure came as no great surprise, Tait added: “There is only so far you can go, and Andy has had a disappointing Six Nations.
“For all the hype about the summer tour and him being supposed to be an exceptional coach, if you haven’t got the tools at your disposal it eventually catches up with you.
“He had rode it out at the end, and the summer tour papered over a few cracks. For all the promise we didn’t deliver, and for a coach in that situation it gets hard to think where you go next, and to motivate them.”
