Richard Andrew Robinson

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 3 April 1964) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

coach and retired player. He was the director of rugby at

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

until November 2016. He is the former head coach of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. From September 2019 to December 2022, he was the head coach of the Romanian national team. Robinson played as an

openside flanker Flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Each team of 15 players includes two flankers, who play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside or openside flankers, numbers 6 and 7 respectively. The name comes from ...

for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

. He was head coach of England from October 2004 until November 2006, then coach of

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh pl ...

and joint coach of

Scotland A The Scotland A team are the second national rugby union team behind the Scottish national side. The first Scotland 'A' fixture took place in 1990. History Unlike association football, where the main team is supposed to be the "A" team, Scotla ...

between October 2007 and June 2009. On 4 June 2009 Robinson was named the new head coach of Scotland. He resigned on 25 November 2012 following a 21–15 defeat at home against Tonga.

Playing career

Born in Taunton, Somerset, Robinson made his England debut against Australia on 12 June 1988, and gained eight caps, playing his last match on 18 November 1995 against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. Robinson was quite small for a back row forward, being only 5 ft 9in (1.75 m), and weighing 13 st 12 lb (88 kg). He played 6 non-international games for the

on their 1989 tour of Australia.

Teaching

Whilst playing for Bath, Robinson taught mathematics, physical education and rugby at

Writhlington School Writhlington School is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–18 in Writhlington, Bath and North East Somerset, England. It is the main secondary school in the Radstock area, providing further education to local children and some pupils who liv ...

King Edward's School, Bath King Edward's School (KES), Bath, Somerset, England is an independent co-educational day school providing education for 1,016 pupils aged 3 to 18. The school is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school was establ ...

and later

Colston's Collegiate School Collegiate School (formerly known as Colston's Collegiate School and Colston’s School) is an independent day school in Bristol, England, and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. It is currently in a period of transiti ...

in Bristol, where he and Alan Martinovic masterminded the school's

Daily Mail Cup The National Schools Cup are a set of annual English schools' rugby union cup competitions, with the U18 Cup being the main competition. The finals of the Cup and Vase competitions are held at Twickenham Stadium, whilst finals for the Plate and Bow ...

wins in 1995 and 1996. 'Robbo' then left to play rugby professionally with

Coaching

Robinson later coached Bath before being appointed forwards coach of

and was deputy to

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lio ...

with the World Cup-winning England side in 2003. When Woodward resigned from the role of England coach in September 2004, Robinson was named as acting coach before being confirmed in the position. He was also a coach on the Lions tours to Australia in 2001 and New Zealand in 2005. Robinson won just nine of his twenty two matches in charge of England. In November 2006, it was confirmed that Robinson would remain head coach with the position reviewed after the two tests against

. Defeat in the second test increased demands from supporters that he should be replaced. On 29 November his resignation as head coach was announced, with Robinson blaming his lack of support from the RFU.

International matches as head coach with England

Note: World Rankings Column shows the World Ranking England was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches

Record by country

In the summer of 2007, the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league ...

appointed Robinson the new head coach of

, as well as joint coach of

with

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

coach

Sean Lineen Sean Lineen (born 25 December 1961) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He was a former Head Coach of Glasgow Warriors from 2006 to 2012. He was a Director for the Scottish Rugby Union until December 2021. Rugby Union ca ...

. In his first season as coach, he guided Edinburgh to the highest ever finish by a Scottish side at that time in the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places par ...

(joint 3rd), despite numerous international players leaving the previous summer for more lucrative contracts in England and France. The following season (2008–09) Edinburgh leap-frogged

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

and the

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

on the final day of the competition to finish runners-up behind

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

. Edinburgh also finished highest points scorers. He stepped down in June 2009 to take up the role of head coach of Scotland, replacing

Frank Hadden Frank Hadden (born 14 June 1954) is a Scottish rugby union coach. He is a former head coach of Scotland and Edinburgh Rugby. Hadden replaced Matt Williams and was appointed on 15 September 2005. Hadden coached the Merchiston Castle School 1st ...

. Although his time as Scotland coach included a 2–0 series win in Argentina and home wins over Australia and South Africa – the latter advancing Scotland to a record sixth place in the world rankings – his stint ended after a string of disappointing results, culminating in defeat by Tonga on 24 November 2012 which was followed a day later by his resignation.

International matches as head coach with Scotland

Record by country

On 18 February 2013 it was announced by Bristol Rugby club that Andy Robinson was joining the club as the new director of rugby and in 2016 Bristol gained promotion to the Aviva Premiership under him.

Personal life

Robinson is a vegetarian. He has four children;

Olly Robinson Olly Robinson (born 21 July 1991) is an English rugby union player who plays as a flanker for Cardiff Rugby in the URC. Career Robinson was first noticed by Bristol Rugby after putting in sequentially impressive performances while plying his ...

who currently plays for the

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff ...

; Ed Robinson, who is assistant coach at Jersey Reds; Henry; and one daughter, Charlotte Robinson.

Career record

Record as England player: Games played 8, Won 4, Lost 3, Drawn 1; 1 try (vs France) Record as England head coach: Games coached 22, Won 9, Lost 13, Drawn: 0 *Biggest Win:

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

70–0 (November 2004) *Biggest Loss (home or away): Australia 34–3 (June 2006) *Biggest Loss (home):

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

20–41 (November 2006) Record as Scotland head coach: Games coached 35, Won 15, Lost 19, Drawn 1

References

External links

Planet-rugby statsSporting Heroes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Andy 1964 births Living people Alumni of Loughborough University Bath Rugby players England international rugby union players England national rugby union team coaches English rugby union coaches English rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England Romania national rugby union team coaches Loughborough Students RUFC players Officers of the Order of the British Empire Rugby union players from Taunton Scotland national rugby union team coaches Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union flankers English expatriate sportspeople in Romania