‘I’m here to address anything’ – Townsend responds to critics

Scotland vs. Tonga Test: Autumn Series

Venue: Scottish Gas Murrayfield, Edinburgh Date: Sunday, 23 November Kick-off: 13: 40 GMT

Gregor Townsend entered the room with a warmth that outweighed the frostiness in front of him. Outside the walls of the interview room at Oriam in Edinburgh the ice was setting in. It was also a little chilly inside.

The Scotland head coach once said, “I’m here to address anything,” which, as it turned out, didn’t mention much about Tonga on Sunday, his team’s final test of a four-Test campaign that has been marred by a huge missed opportunity against the vulnerable New Zealand and a desperate implosion, from 21-0 up, against Argentina. Tonga, frankly, took a back seat.

Townsend has lost two important matches this autumn, won two of his last four Six Nations games, and has been eliminated from the previous two World Cups through pool. In the 2023 competition, Townsend scored three points against the Springboks, which ended in a 36-0 loss to Ireland when their opponents ran into a 36-0 lead.

On Sunday, Murrayfield was booed, which is a rare sight. Has it now become clear that he has been working for long enough after more than eight years?

“That’s your opinion”, he replied. Townsend was polite and modest as always, but the questions were lengthy and difficult. In that room, things were tense.

“I’ve seen the team play the best rugby it’s played in the eight years over the last two or three weeks”, he argued. We’re very disappointed that we didn’t win against Argentina and New Zealand.

We scored enough goals to defeat New Zealand, which put us up against Argentina. To get in those positions, to be 21-0 up, the team is delivering up to that point. “

The key caveat is “Up until that point.” Unfortunately, Scotland’s desire for games to last as long as they do. They don’t end after a razor-sharp opening spell against the Pumas or when Scotland have clawed back a horrendous start to make it 17-17 against the All Blacks.

When the home crowd booed him on full-time, did he understand?

He said, “Yes, we sensed the disappointment in the crowd; it was like an inhalation of disappointment.”

That’s a new way of putting it. No, it was undoubtedly booing.

Townsend claimed that he is steadfast in his work ethic. Yes, even more so, “he answered when asked if he had the stomach for the fight despite all the kicks in teeth.

“This week was really important, even if you don’t believe me,” I apologize. Our review’s interaction between the players and the coaches gave me a different perspective. It’s painful. It hurt on Sunday night.

“The failures and how you handle them make you the team you can be,” says the statement from the final 20 minutes of Monday. I’ve been really encouraged on how that’s played out through this week.

It’s been a busy week of meetings, sincere meetings, and a real deep analysis of how we could improve in those final 20 to 25 minutes (against the Pumas, who capitulated and lost a game they had already won)

Scotland can be excellent for a lot of games, but too frequently they don’t have the mental strength to carry them out. This was repeated in this article. They have shown psychological weakness numerous times in recent years, and at least some of the viewers are getting bored. Most probably, a large section and growing all the while.

He was told about this team’s frequent meltdowns. He responded, “I would disagree.” “I wouldn’t say routinely. Even though the performance levels have been consistently high over the past few weeks, the last 20 minutes weren’t good enough.

I think this team’s performances are sufficient to support what I said three or four weeks ago.

Three or four weeks ago, when talking to BBC Scotland, Townsend said his squad was in the best place it has ever been in on his watch. The future had not been as promising in his eight years, he claimed, in terms of player depth, player power, power players, players who won things with their clubs, and the large number of Scots who saw summer league action with the British and Irish Lions in Australia.

In spite of defeats, the booing, and the obvious indications that Scotland tightens up and turns into error-prone and easy meat, he still believes it. Haven’t the fans seen enough?

A Tonga’s spike If that’s true, it’s a curious response to a soul-destroying defeat by Argentina. Scottish rugby fans must be resentful of punishment.

The supporters are behind the team, Townsend said, “It’s great to know that the atmosphere that was created in the New Zealand game and the atmosphere when Argentina scored and Flower of Scotland was ringing out.” They’re very disappointed that we didn’t win, like we are.

“We don’t have the right to defeat every team in the world, but we do think we can.” With what we have, our players and supporters can reasonably expect to defeat the best teams in the world.

Scotland can take on the best in the world for passages of games for sure, but their win record against teams sitting above them in the rankings has been dismal for an age. They are currently ninth in the world, having just finished fifth just before the previous World Cup. In contrast to Townsend’s adage of being competitive, they are losing ground on winning games.

How does he explain the drop-offs, the moments in time that saw New Zealand and Argentina win, the passages in recent seasons that saw Italy roaring back from a big deficit and beating Scotland and that saw Wales, in 2024 and 2025, scare the life out of Townsend’s team despite being miles behind on the scoreboard?

His response is, “That’s rugby, that’s sport.” “Look at New Zealand,” During 20-30 minutes against us they didn’t hardly touch the ball. Argentina were down 1 point.

The best teams then, in essence, do that. What we need to do is when that momentum does start to go in the favour of the opposition, we have to find ways to get it back. “

But how long can he keep pounding the drum? Yes, Scotland eventually outlasted New Zealand for a while, and Argentina once more got the better of them early. Both of them still won, which is really all that matters. Despite Townsend’s efforts to instill that winning mindset, Scotland still lacks it. A ruinous softness is still present.

Is he expecting a review of his own performance at the end of the autumn”? He said, “I don’t know,” You’d have to ask someone else about it, but we review every campaign.