'I am so down about the loss' - Gregor Townsend's reaction to Scotland's frustrating loss
Gregor Townsend rued failing to build on the momentous victory over England after Scotland’s Guinness Six Nations title hopes were extinguished by Ireland.
The Scots’ campaign began with so much promise following the joy of a first Calcutta Cup success at Twickenham since 1983.
But their faint aspirations of Championship glory were snuffed out by Sunday’s agonising 27-24 loss to the Irish, which followed last month’s single-point home defeat to Wales.
A brave second-half fightback at Murrayfield proved to be for nothing as Johnny Sexton’s late penalty condemned the Scots to a sixth successive loss to their rivals.
Townsend’s agony was compounded by losing Finn Russell and Scott Cummings to injuries which are expected to rule them out of next week’s encounter with Italy, while Jonny Gray also picked up a problem.
“That’s the frustrating thing – that we’ve not been able to build on that excellent performance against England and back that up with one, if not two, victories,” said the head coach.
“Twickenham set the bar and for 32, 33 minutes against Wales the following week we played as well as Twickenham, in some aspects we played better.
“But since then we’ve not been consistent over the 80-minute period, against Wales and today.
“Every game is different, you’ve got a different opposition, a referee who has a different interpretation, so you’ve got to adapt.
“As much as I am so down about the loss today – and I know our players and our supporters are too – there is still a lot to be proud of this team.
“It’s two games in a row now that they have come back and created an opportunity to at least draw the game with a few minutes remaining and this team has had to be adaptable.”
Scotland had been inactive for more than a month following the postponement of their clash with France due to a coronavirus outbreak in the opposition camp and their rustiness showed in a wretched set-piece performance.
Andy Farrell’s visitors were firmly in control thanks to tries from Robbie Henshaw and Tadhg Beirne and the potent boot of Sexton.
PLAYER RATINGS@Gav_S_Harper ??? rates the Scottish players after a bitterly close loss at HQ #SCOvIRL #scotland #SixNationsRugby https://t.co/UvWYfXC9lV
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 14, 2021
Scotland burst back into life as Huw Jones and Hamish Watson followed up Russell’s first-half score to draw level and set up a grandstand finish.
A mistake by Ali Price proved costly, allowing Sexton to kick the decisive penalty four minutes from time and take his tally to 17 points for the afternoon.
Influential fly-half Russell and locks Cummings and Gray had been forced out of a bruising encounter before the late drama.
Speaking about the injury concerns, Townsend said: “It is quite early to tell but Finn was removed from play with a concussion, so it’s unlikely he will feature in six days’ time.
“And Scott Cummings, we fear he may have a fracture in his hand, so if that’s the case he won’t be involved next week. Jonny Gray had a shoulder issue, so we will wait and see how he is.
“That’s three players – I imagine there will be a few more that turn up at training on Tuesday sore and we’ll just have to see where we are then.”
PLAYER RATINGS
How we rated the Ireland players after a scrappy but thrilling Murrayfield encounter #SCOvIRE #sixnationshttps://t.co/pzNkjl1LxW
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 14, 2021
Scotland captain Stuart Hogg, who added two conversions following the withdrawal of Russell, admits the narrow loss is painful to accept.
“It’s a frustrating outcome. For large periods of that game we showed what we are about. We really challenged them. We probably just lacked that clinical edge at times,” said Hogg.
“The big thing we’ve talked about in the changing room is not being in a position to be chasing the game. We believe we are a lot better than that and unfortunately we’ve had to chase 24 points, which isn’t ideal.
“We know we’re a lot better than that – a lot better than we showed at times. This one really, really hurts. It’s really, really frustrating but what’s happened has happened, we can’t change it.”
Ireland’s Championship ambitions were derailed after round two following defeats to Wayne Pivac’s Grand Slam-chasing Wales and France.
A thrilling finish in Scotland! ? pic.twitter.com/QZ8fsvmZbW
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 14, 2021
After bouncing back by beating Italy a fortnight ago, a second successive win moves them second in the standings.
Head coach Farrell praised his players’ rapid response to being pegged back in Edinburgh but concedes there are plenty of improvements to be made ahead of next weekend’s finale against England.
“My over-riding feeling is one of pride really,” said Farrell.
“They got the seven points to draw the game and it would take down a few teams mentally.
“But they stayed together, they refocused, they regrouped, great kick-off, good chase, good pressure and they stayed next-moment focused.
“We got the turnover and big-game players, that’s what they do, they take responsibility and Johnny put over the points.
“I have been here plenty of times and struggled with most teams I’ve been here with, so really proud to get the win, really proud in the way we started the game and ended the game but obviously there are things to work on.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments