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Gregor Townsend bemoaned Scotland’s failure to take advantage of “big moments” as their Six Nations hoodoo in Cardiff continued.
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Scotland are without a Cardiff win since 2002 and have rarely come closer to victory over the past two decades than on Saturday as Wales closed out a tense 20-17 victory at the Principality Stadium.
Wales captain Dan Biggar celebrated his 100th Test appearance with a decisive drop goal 10 minutes from time as Scotland failed to build on their opening Calcutta Cup victory over England.
Head coach Townsend said: “The obvious emotion in the changing room is disappointment. It’s going to be with the standards we set ourselves.
“You only get five games in the Six Nations, so it’s going to have a negative effect on your chances of winning the tournament.
“There were big moments in the second half that we did not execute.
“We gave penalties to the opposition so we did not control that second half.”
Scotland recovered from an early six-point deficit to lead 11-6 and 14-9 before half-time.
But Wales were level at the interval and bounced back from their opening defeat to Ireland in Dublin as Biggar’s boot overturned a 17-14 disadvantage.
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Townsend, whose side were reduced to 14 men late on when outside-half Finn Russell was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on, said: “After we went ahead on the scoreboard we needed to kick on, and we weren’t able to do that.
“We should have taken the game to the opposition and been more accurate than we were during that period.
“We did well in the period when we were a man down.
“But the clock was ticking down and it was hard to make use of that final possession when we were in our half.
“There wasn’t a huge amount of difference really in the two performances. We played better against England than we did here, but we didn’t show our best in either game.”
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Winger Darcy Graham scored Scotland’s solitary try with a superb piece of first-half footwork to take him past Louis Rees-Zammit.
Graham said: “Wales put a lot of pressure on us in the second half.
“We’d done a lot of good things in the first half, we got into the lead but you have to be able to close these games out.
“Our discipline was a bit poor. That was the way they got into the game, through penalties and our mistakes and silly errors.
“We’ve got to back our defence. We can play good rugby when our defence is solid.
“We can stop teams scoring and go multi-phase. We just need to trust in that process.
“We’ve got the potential here to do something very special. It’s one game and we need to get back on the horse and go again.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Hey Finn, Well done to the Junior Wallabies…a win is a win but it was a wet and scrappy game. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on two things from watching the game at the Not So Sunny Coast Stadium. Firstly, what is your opinion on the rule change of being able to call The Mark from a kick off and what is the reason for the change? Secondly, your thoughts on the lack of action for the high tackle on the SA fullback. I understand the TMO ruled that he had fallen into the tackle and the tackler didn’t have time to adjust but it was clearly shoulder on head and the Aussie 11 had not made any attempt to adjust his tackle height leading into the tackle. In my opinion he was never going to get his tackle technique correct to complete a safe tackle. If that tackle was made at a more senior and more scrutinised level would we have seen the same result?
2 Go to commentsI don’t think this has been ventilated enough. Discuss. Perhaps the lesson in all of this is that, in the game of life, one should do all the talking on the field of play. And in the game of rugby, what’s said on the field - stays on the field. Take care of yourselves. And each other.
31 Go to commentsLow skills compared to the Junior ABs. The ball handling and ball retention of the SAns in particular was utterly woeful. The latter will be better on home turf.
2 Go to comments1. Heard this so often over the yrs. One Warriors CEO even claimed future kids wouldnt know which came first, the ABs or the Warriors. Always keen to talk themselves up. 2. That fella Barakat who says he will drop HBHS sponsorship because HBHS quite rightly wants its players to focus on rugby is an odd fit as a sponsor in the first place. As a recruitment official for the Warriors he seems to regard his sponsorship as a paid licence to help to select players from HBHS for the league side. Maybe he should find a league school to fund.
1 Go to commentsNZ U20s are the team to beat this year for sure. And how nice after so long that NZRFU is actually taking this seriously. For far too long they have been sending woefully coached and woefully underprepared teams to the U20 WCs. That Wrampling boy is a star in the making.
2 Go to commentsI agree ..come on keyboard warriors and journalists looking for a cheap win ….. only 2 mins to go 12 points down …this DID NOT decide the game and beside JM was hit after the whistle and in response it was a pat on the back of the head …harmless ….watch soccer if this is your issue
4 Go to commentsRest is for namby pamby sissies, I see. True men should overcome their trifling injuries by playing week in, week out. Bidwell’s stance reminds me of a Jon Gadsby character from the 70s, a rugby captain giving an after-match speech: “It was a very physical contest. One of our players caught a boot on the back of his head in a ruck, and he died, actually. But to his credit, he played on.”
1 Go to commentsI still see nothing in Sotutus play that hes changed his upright running style that failed so many times against decent international defences like the french. Other than that… Iose? Well you have covered his limitations well. If Sititi had been playing the the season… Jacobson? Grace?…Neither shout pick me. So Ardie it is.
1 Go to commentsThere isn’t one element you mentioned there that every top class or successful team gets up to. The great All blacks sides used to play on the ‘fringes or edge’ but it was essentially saying they were doing something illegal or borderline to gain dominance. The fine margins at the top are minute between the top sides. La Rochelle, the crusaders, Saracens, Toulon etc etc…..have all been accused. Get over it, the comment comes across as salty and naive. Northampton as well as they played to get back into the match were thoroughly beaten and controlled for 60 minutes and Leinster have only themselves to blame for kicking it away and hence losing control of the match and being nearly the architects of their own downfall.
2 Go to commentsThere is some talent coming thru thats for sure. The 10 looks special to me. Rico Simpson is a name to look for in the future.
2 Go to commentsI think this quiet honestly is just an innocent misunderstanding by someone who is pig sh*t stupid. Eben is a fine player but by christ, if he can’t understand or get what the Irish players were trying to say to him after the match…..well i hope he has someone looking after his finances, career and is reading the fine print for him, cause life after rugby may be quite difficult for the vacuous echo chamber.
31 Go to commentsIt could be Doris' day!
3 Go to commentsThe whole thing has blown up because Eben’s words have clearly struck a nerve in Ireland. Otherwise they would just laugh it off. I think some former Irish players, commentators and some Irish fans know deep down this Ireland team started to believe its own press and that a certain amount of arrogance had started to creep in during the World Cup. The topic was actually brought up by Irish pundits on Off the Ball recently. It’s fine to be arrogant if you can back it up. Ireland didn’t.
31 Go to comments‘The Irish are good people'. Why is Goode praising a people who hate his own? Wet wipe.
31 Go to commentsLa mejor final que se puede ver en el emisferio norte.
1 Go to commentsA lot of cope from south africans in the comments. Etzebeth is a liar and a hypocrite; you don’t have to defend him!
31 Go to commentsHe got big and really slow for a flyhalf…not sure he’s relevant in a bok conversation anymore
4 Go to commentsBest tourney team vs best team in the regular season for 3 games in RSA - talk is cheap, let’s see what’s what on the tour
31 Go to commentsOne overlooked statistic from their 2016 winning season is the Huricanes are still the only team in Super rugby history not to concede a try during the playoff rounds.
4 Go to commentsThanks for the article, Nick. The Nienaber blitz D does ask a lot of its scrumhalf. I have been watching JGP on D and he often looks like he has mastered what Nienaber asks for better than Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach! 🤣 Impressive season by JGP if I must make an understatement.
22 Go to comments