Jonny Wilkinson has warned England to beware the Andy Robinson effect in Saturday's Six Nations match against Scotland at Murrayfield.
Robinson was England coach from 2004 to 2006, before he was sacked, but took over a similar post with Scotland in June last year.
Although Scotland are winless in this year's Six Nations, Wilkinson believes Robinson brings all the qualities to his coaching he did as an abrasive flanker for Bath and England.
"He hits a great balance," Wilkinson told reporters at England's training base here on Tuesday after manager Martin Johnson unveiled his side for this weekend's Calcutta Cup clash.
"The balance is you have a huge amount of respect for what he did on the field when he played and the way he coaches," the fly-half, rugby union's world record international points scorer, added.
"There is no facade about it. He doesn't say 'Now I am a coach I am going to speak about things I didn't do'. He doesn't ask people to do things he didn't commit to as a player.
"He was physical, skilful as a player and he did that every time he went out there. As a coach he does exactly the same thing - he is able to impart a huge amount of that experience and that he is why he is a good man for that job."
Robinson made Wilkinson his first England captain, back in 2004, but that appointment was derailed by the stand-off's brutal run of injuries.
In fact the 30-year-old did not appear once in Robinson's reign as England coach, but knows him well from his spell as assistant to Clive Woodward in the years leading up to the Red Rose's 2003 World Cup final win over Australia.
"I am a big fan of Andy Robinson's," Wilkinson added.
"I had great experiences under him. He creates enormous energy, he brings confidence, he brings trust from the players and he brings physicality mixed in with detail."
Scotland may be bottom of the Six Nations table but they were minutes away from victory against Wales before losing 31-24 in Cardiff and were only beaten 16-12 by Italy in Rome last time out.
"We can't just stick our head down and bash it against a wall to prepare for this game," Wilkinson insisted.
"They (Scotland) have had a great kicking game, great set plays and individual brilliance. They may not have been on the right end of the results but they have been close in every one. A couple of bounces of the ball and we would be talking about something different."
England, who go into the latest edition of rugby union's oldest international fixture on the back of a 20-16 loss at home to Ireland, have not won at Murrayfield since 2004.
Two years ago they were undone in a grim battle in the rain, losing 15-9 at Scotland's headquarters when they could not vary their tactical plan.
And Wilkinson knows they must heed the lessons of that day or face an unwanted hat-trick of defeats in Edinburgh.
"The game a couple of years ago was a massive learning curve," he said.
"You can't expect to build a game just what you plan on paper.
"We tried that against Scotland, thinking 'We'll do this, we'll do this,' but they did a great job smothering us.
"Their defence is very strong, their commitment at the breakdown is enormous and we didn't push the situation hard enough to win that game.
"We need to ensure we get what we want into play. We didn't that time and we ended up losing the game - and quite rightly so."
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