Robinson plans to set England free

LONDON - Coach Andy Robinson admits he made mistakes during his first year in charge and wants to give his England rugby team more freedom of expression during the November internationals.

England's hangover from their World Cup victory has so far lasted 18 months and Robinson is aware time is running out to develop a style which can counter the pace and aggression of the southern hemisphere sides at the 2007 tournament in France.

The 2003 triumph in Australia was built on a generation of players who are now largely retired, and a meticulous battle plan which left little to chance.

After four wins and four defeats in his eight internationals in charge, Robinson has decided individual skill is the recipe for success.

"What we're looking for now is to play the game with more freedom," Robinson said last week.

"What I believe we now need is to have players -- to develop players -- who are capable of making more decisions on the pitch.

"We want to be running a less patterned game that's free-flowing and less broken-up.

"There's a lot less space on a rugby field these days, so it's a question of looking for new ways to find what space there is and of looking for new ways to attack it effectively"

A former international flanker, the 41-year-old was captain of Bath before being appointed club coach in 1997, a year before Bath won the Heineken Cup.

Robinson was Clive Woodward's right-hand man as forwards coach in the World Cup campaign, putting into practice on the training field what Woodward worked out on the whiteboard.

Appointed to the England coaching staff in 2000, the national team have stumbled in the 12 months since Robinson took over the job fulltime.

Robbed by injury of talismanic first five-eighth Jonny Wilkinson, England looked disjointed and lacked punch in this year's Six Nations, losing to Ireland, France and champions Wales.

Robinson then rejoined Woodward to prepare for what turned out to be a calamitous Lions tour of New Zealand during which the tourists' forwards were badly shown up.

The England coach seems to have learned a few hard lessons over the past 12 months, particularly after he pitched an untested 18-year-old centre, Mathew Tait, into the opening Six Nations match against Wales.

With centre Mike Tindall back from injury and Wilkinson on the mend at his club Newcastle, Robinson is intent on building up a core of players who will have the experience and talent to defend the World Cup title.

The three tests this month against Australia, New Zealand and Samoa are the first steps in this process of development.

"What's going to be fascinating from my point of view is that we'll have to change our own approach to the games as we move from playing against New Zealand's intense brand of rugby to meeting Samoa, with their free range of skills," he said.

"I'm looking to end up in a position this time next year where we have 25 players who could all genuinely be pushing for a starting England place."

- REUTERS