Scots get UK morning starts at World Cup

SCOTLAND coach Andy Robinson welcomed the announcement of the 2011 World Cup kick-off times yesterday as Scotland were handed four pool matches with morning starts in the UK.

Scotland's opening match, against the winner of a Romania versus Uruguay play-off in November, will kick off at the less-than-ideal time of 1pm in New Zealand, which has a 2am time in the UK, but the games against Georgia on Wednesday 14 September, Argentina on Sunday 25 September and England on Saturday 1 October will all kick off at 8.30am in this country.

Robinson welcomed the confirmation of the schedule, but insisted the focus of management and the players remained firmly on games in the coming weeks and the autumn Test series.

He said: "This news is another piece of the Rugby World Cup jigsaw and I know excitement is building. However, as I've said before, our focus must be on our next challenge, and for us that's the All Blacks in our first Autumn Test at Murrayfield on Saturday 13 November, followed by the visits of South Africa and Samoa in the following weeks."

In keeping with New Zealand's desire to use the tournament as a showcase for the North and South Islands, Scotland will play in four different cities - Invercargill, Dunedin, Christchurch, and their last pool match, against England, in the newly-developed Eden Park in Auckland.