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'It's a good question' - Townsend's downbeat admission on team's mentality
Gregor Townsend declared Scotland’s Guinness Six Nations campaign a disappointment as he lamented his team’s inability to perform to their potential.
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The Scots went into the tournament with hopes of challenging for the title after pulling off a string of big victories in recent seasons.
However, they managed to win only two of their five matches – against England and Italy – as they finished fourth in the table.
Townsend rued his team’s failure to build on their opening-weekend Calcutta Cup triumph by falling short away to Wales in the following match.
“We’re disappointed,” said the head coach, reflecting on the campaign overall. “We look at the fundamentals of our performances and our performances weren’t good enough, particularly in the Wales game.
“That the was the most disappointing aspect, that we had an opportunity going down to Wales but we weren’t accurate enough. Following that, we had some very good moments against France but they were the better team on the day.
“Likewise against Ireland. Italy was a good bounce-back but we just couldn’t get the wins either side of it.”
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Despite having some promising moments against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, Scotland were ultimately defeated 26-5.
Asked if he believes his team possesses the mentality to compete for championships, Townsend said: “It’s a good question. We’ll have to see.
“We’ll get a real challenge in the summer when we go away from home to Argentina and then we’ve got some outstanding teams coming to visit us in November and those are ultimately the ways we prepare to be more competitive in the next Six Nations.
“It’s such a strong tournament now. France have won every game they’ve played this season and Ireland have won every game apart from the game in Paris so there are two of the best teams in the world in our competition, never mind England, Wales and Italy.
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“We have to be better to be competitive. We have to go in with the same mindset, ambition and expectations that we’ve had this year, last year and the year before in terms of going into tournaments believing in our group and believing we can be a match for anybody.
“But we weren’t good enough this year, that’s obvious. We’ll have to learn from that, build towards the summer and then build towards November.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Mack Hansen, Ethan Roots, Taine Plumbtree, Louis Lynagh, Emmanuel Meafou? Which country do you want to pick your Barbarians from?
3 Go to commentsInstead of apologising, try to act like an adult, fcknut.
1 Go to commentsLooks like the Force twisted his leg…ahem arm
5 Go to commentsScotland should change their name to the Barbarians
3 Go to commentsThe game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
2 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
7 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
3 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
2 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
2 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
5 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
5 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
5 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
16 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
16 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
16 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
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