Robinson: Wallabies won't catch me

13 April 2012

Driving south on Monday to join the England squad, I had no way of knowing what lay in store or that my height was about to become the subject of a national debate.

True, I have never played against anyone smaller than me but it is equally true that I have never found my height - I'm 5ft 8in - a problem. As a full back the important question is not how tall or short you are, but how high you can jump.

When the team was read out on Monday and mine was the first name on the sheet as the No.15, I had no qualms. The prospect of playing there against the best team in the world did not bother me at all.

Catching a ball is not about height. It's about getting your body into the right position and timing your leap so you get to it first. I know that if I am caught with the ball, I will be to blame. It's about playing the game as you see it, making the right judgment call and being smart, because the Aussies are the smartest operators in the game.

It's a question of reading the game in front of you. After letting ourselves down as well as the English supporters against Ireland in Dublin last month, we know we have to respond with a big performance. If we are wise in the way we go about it, then the back three, Austin Healey, Dan Luger and myself, will find the space to do our stuff.

Of course, people are going to talk about my selection because the vast majority would have expected me to be playing on the wing. I can understand their surprise but it's not as if I haven't played at full back.

My last game in league, for Wigan against St Helens in the Grand Final at Old Trafford just over a year ago, was at full back. The positions in the respective codes are different but in league I would have to deal with high balls after the fourth or fifth tackle and I have had a fair bit of the same treatment at Sale.

In 23 matches for the club, 12 have been at full back and one of my first matches there, against London Irish in the rain last April, gave me an early opportunity to show what I could do.

Maybe they fancied their chances of exploiting my lack of experience but I was able to run the ball back at them and we ended up scoring six tries.

Those surprised to see me playing there for England will no doubt be even more surprised to learn that I also played once in the back row for Wigan against Swinton on what turned out to be an historic occasion.

Shaun Edwards scored 10 tries but they can't have had much to do with my sensational impact as a loose forward because I was never picked there again.

Switching to union has meant learning new skills, the most important being kicking out of hand. In league, where you put boot to ball only as a last resort, I would kick it no more than twice a season. The only kicking I did then was for fun in training.

For the first few weeks at Sale I never used the touchline and all season probably only kicked three times. At Bath last month, I kicked the ball twice in the same match for the first time but I will kick it as often on Saturday as the situation demands.

England against Australia is big news whatever the sport but I never imagined that it would be as big as this. It's important that by tomorrow I relax, have a nice meal, maybe a quiet game of pool and a read before an early night.

I read the Bible every night. It helps me keep everything in perspective which is important because, with all the hype of the match, it would be easy to get carried away.

I have a gift for playing rugby and it's down to me to make the most of it. I don't pray that I play well or that I score a certain number of tries because that is not necessary. My trust is in the Lord and nobody else.

Interview: PETER JACKSON

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Robinson: Wallabies won't catch me

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