Townsend responds to ex-Scotland flanker branding side 'an embarrassment'

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has responded to former Scottish international Jason White describing his ex-side as ‘an embarrassment’ following their disappointing loss to Ireland at the Rugby World Cup.

The Scots were blown away by Ireland 36-14, with two late tries saving the Scots from being nilled by a rampant Irish side in their Pool B decider.

Many fans and former have voiced their frustration with the performance, or lack thereof, and Townsend admits that they are right to feel aggrieved after Scotland exited the tournament prior to the knockout stages.

“I thought the supporters were right to be disappointed, right to see the scoreline and think, ‘this is not Scotland, this is terrible’,” said Townsend when asked about White’s comments. “We get that. We feel so disappointed that we weren’t able to make it a much more competitive game and that hurts us as well as it does our supporters. At the end of a tournament it hurts us even more.”

Townsend also responded to a question on whether or not he felt his players had been too vocal in the lead-up to the game. Post-match comments from Ireland flanker Peter O’Mahony implied that Ireland may have used the words as motivation.

“Players are free to talk how they want to talk to the media. There is obviously much more media in the World Cup. We don’t tell players what to say, they can say how they feel. We felt confident in our game based on what we’d done over the last year or so. We obviously didn’t deliver that. I would much prefer our players being confident going into a game than not confident.

“I was proud of a lot of aspects of the game. I am hugely disappointed that the game got away from us. We’re out of the World Cup.

“There’s a lot that gets invested, from players to coaches and management, and for it to end in a disappointing result, a big score, is very tough.

“I have been involved with teams in the past and your defeats can shape you as well. Sport will have defeats and victories, we understand that. All that work that has been put into this team and the work that the players have put in has to continue. We have to learn how we can be better in our own game but also learn from the number one team in the world – what are they doing to make them consistent, effective and better than anyone else right now?

“That will be the process we work on and how we approach our next tournament, which will be the Six Nations in a few months’ time.”