The Robinson era

 

Former England coach Andy Robinson became Scotland coach in time for the 2009 Autumn Internationals. Scotland's form picked up with a 23–10 victory over Fiji and a memorable 9–8 win against Australia (the first win over the Wallabies for 27 years) at Murrayfield.

Scotland went into the 2010 Six Nations with a renewed confidence, hoping to build off the successes in the autumn. After losing their first match to a superior French side, Scotland looked to turn the corner against Wales in Cardiff. They scored two tries in the opening quarter of the match and held a 24-14 lead with seven minutes remaining. However, two players were sin-binned in that period, and Scotland strangely opted not to kick the ball into touch after Wales had tied the game just short of the 80 minute mark. The resulting passage of play saw Wales score the winning try and leave Scotland frustrated. 

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Under Frank Hadden

put the match out of reach.

Later that year, the side travelled to France for the rugby world cup. They fought their way through a difficult group and made it to the quarter finals where they were knocked out by Argentina.

Despite the promising World Cup, Scotland did not emerge into the Six Nations as the dark horses the media had predicted. Scotland opened their campaign at home but lost 27-6 to France. Pressure on Frank Hadden started to intensify after round 2 as Scotland lost 30-15 to a rejuvenated Wales side who could have scored more. Scotland finally managed to score a try, against Ireland, despite losing. They didn't need to score a try against England however as they regained the Calcutta Cup with a 15-9 victory in a dull contest. Scotland scored two tries against Italy but lost thanks to a drop goal in the last minute to go down 23-20. Scotland managed to avoid the wooden spoon on scoring difference but it was a disappointing campaign. They then toured Argentina to play two tests against Argentina. They lost the first test 21-15 and won the second 26-14.

In the 2009 Six Nations campaign, Scotland won just one match for a second consecutive year (against Italy) and thus, on 2 April 2009 Frank Hadden vacated the head coach position of the national side. On 4 June 2009, ex-England, Edinburgh and Bath coach Andy Robinson was named head coach.

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