Andy Robinson targets historic first win over 'best ever' New Zealand outfit

The coach was yesterday making a maiden visit to Pittodrie, home of Aberdeen FC, and after being given a tour by his international captain and Granite City native Chris Cusiter he expressed himself delighted that Scotland would be concluding another November Test series in the north-east.

Robinson experienced the thrill of leading Scotland to a first win over Australia at Murrayfield in his first round of autumn Tests last season, and though he acknowledged that this year's challenge was steeper, with New Zealand on 13 November being followed by South Africa at Murrayfield before the game on with Samoa in Aberdeen on 27 November the experienced coach is eager to start a new season with a performance to make the Scottish population sit up and take notice.

The autumn series still has no sponsor, but The Scotsman understands that the SRU and BBC are very close to reaching agreement on a rights fee to broadcast the Test series with the New Zealand match having a 5.15pm kick-off to enable it to be screened live on BBC across the UK. The SRU and BBC remained tight-lipped yesterdat, but the remaining two matches, with the Springboks and Samoa, both have 2.30pm kick-offs which, being the same as England games, fuels the belief that they are more likely to appear solely on BBC Scotland.

Robinson has experienced beating the All Blacks with England in 2003, but also suffered at their hands as England and British and Irish Lions coach. He appeared to be quite excited at facing New Zealand for the first time as Scotland's head coach.

"Anybody who hasn't seen that game (Saturday's Tri Nations win] I'd recommend they do," he said, "because it was one of the best performances from a side in the professional era right across the board, in the way they went out and played the game.

"Obviously, playing New Zealand first up is huge, but we'll prepare well for it. They have a lot of games to play before they play us with Australia in Hong Kong and then England before us. We will have to be at our very best to compete, and have some belief about how we're going to play; individually and collectively everyone has to play well on the day. But I have belief in the team. It (the key to beating New Zealand] is not to get intimidated. You stand up and go toe-to-toe with them, and not just for 30 minutes but 80, and you've got to be very, very physical.

"But everyone wants to be in the team and the real excitement for me is seeing our players perform over the next three months and fight their way to get into the side to play New Zealand. The results against Ireland and in Argentina create a momentum that everyone wants to be part of."

On his first experience of a game at Pittodrie, he added: "Murrayfield is our home and it's important that we're playing matches there, but on occasion it's really good to get around the country, and for us to spend the week here. We'll be arriving on the Monday after the South Africa game and having looked at the stadium, and the pitch, for us to have a full stadium of 22,000 coming to watch us and being so close to the pitch will create a fantastic atmosphere.

"Aberdeen is a great city and Cus (Cusiter] has been telling me about how good it is, and I think it's great to move around the country. I'm very confident that we'll get a full house. The last times that Scotland have played here have drawn very good crowds, even though the Canada game was played in awful conditions.

"And the Samoans are a big-hitting, very skilful team and I think with their build-up to the World Cup this will be a very good match and will be fantastic for people in this area to come and see. I came up to speak at the Grampian Police rugby club a few years ago and was amazed at the amount of rugby played up here, and you think of players that have come from this area, Jason White and Cus to name but two, it's a very strong area for rugby so I think it's important that we are here."

The decision by the SRU to take another game to Aberdeen, after the success of Barbarians fixtures in 2005 and 2006 and the November 2008 Test match with Canada, reflects not only the desire of the local authority to persuade the SRU to come north, with renewed support for SRU plans to grow the game, but also the successful development of rugby in recent years.

Since that first game with the Barbarians, the SRU have gone from one full-time development officer to five for the coming season, all now linked closely with the 23 clubs across Aberdeenshire and Moray, and from two secondary schools with regular rugby to five, and all 12 having experienced rugby, now including the city's international school.Speaking at Pittodrie, just a stone's throw from the city's stunning new sports village complex, the Lord Provost Peter Stephen hailed Scotland's return as another exciting moment in the history of sport in the north-east while Aberdeen FC's managing director Duncan Fraser also spoke of the SRU's influence in the design of the new Loirston Loch stadium being planned to ensure football and rugby will have a state-of-the-art venue in the north-east in the future.

Cusiter savoured meeting and indulging in some head keepy-uppy with Dons manager Mark McGhee, a star striker when Cusiter was a supporter and ball-boy at Aberdeen matches in the 1980s and 90s.

"I think it's fantastic for Aberdeen," he added. "They are well-attended games that create a lot of excitement in the north-east. I tend to find that with Aberdeen, that whenever a big event comes up here people do get excited about it because the big music concerts and sporting events don't come here as often as they do to Glasgow and Edinburgh, so people do get behind them.

"Personally, I'm really excited but I don't want to jinx myself because I haven't had the chance to play here yet (due to Lions tour and injury], so hopefully I'll be involved and will have the chance to grace the hallowed turf. It's a huge thing having grown up here and gone to watch the 'Dons'. I would love the opportunity to play out there."

• Tickets for all three autumn Test matches went on sale yesterday at www.scottishrugby.co.uk and the 24-hour hotline (0844 335 3933).

Scotland's 2010 Autumn Test Series

Saturday 13 November: Scotland v New Zealand (Murrayfield, 5.15pm)

Saturday 20 November: Scotland v South Africa (Murrayfield, 2.30pm)

Saturday 27 November: Scotland v Samoa (Pittodrie, 2.30pm)