Few individuals, if any, are better qualified to discuss the ebb and flow of high-level coaching than Andy Robinson. Twenty years ago this month he was promoted to be England’s head coach with a World Cup medal and an OBE tucked away. If the subsequent two decades have reinforced anything it is that sport is about timing and resilience as much as milk and honey.
The man sitting across a cafe table in downtown Bath has been appointed to – and removed from – three head coaching jobs in international rugby in Europe, with England, Scotland and Romania. He has also been a Premiership general at two illustrious clubs, Bath and Bristol, without losing any of his enthusiasm for the battle. Even at the age of 60, sipping a black coffee, his deep-set eyes are gleaming. Ahead of Saturday’s West Country derby – 136 years of intense rivalry and counting – he has just remembered he never lost a league or cup game against Bristol as a player or head coach.
