"I heard, 'It's not a try'" – Gregor Townsend and Rory Darge react to Scotland's controversial defeat to England in Six Nations

Yesterday at 04:49 PM

By Cameron Archibald

Scotland suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of their oldest rivals, losing 16-15 to England at Twickenham with a last-minute missed conversion.

Despite scoring three tries, Finn Russell's failure to convert any of them resulted in a narrow loss to the Auld Enemy – their first defeat to the English since 2020. Addressing the media at Allianz Stadium following the match, head coach Townsend and co-captain Rory Darge talked England's controversial try, back row magic, Russell's kicking woes and more.

Gregor Townsend and Rory Darge give verdicts on controversial England try & refereeing decisions

Winger Tommy Freeman crossed the line for England on nine minutes, scoring what would prove to be their only try throughout the 80 minutes. However, replays appeared to show a lack of grounding of the ball, despite referee Pierre Brousset immediately blowing his whistle to award the score. Townsend remained relatively tight-lipped on the incident, not willing to definitively state an opinion having yet to see a replay.

GREGOR TOWNSEND: "I didn't really look at it. I heard another coach say it wasn't grounded, but I was onto the next thing, which was kick-off.

"I think I heard, 'it's not a try'.

"I'm going to go through the game two or three times to see where we could've got better decisions. I did feel that the decision counted against us for the winning three points, where we cleared someone out of the ruck. I just don't know how that's a penalty… that was an interesting call for us to end up going six points behind. I thought the referee did well."

RORY DARGE: "It's one of those things that happens in rugby. You're away from home and I think the only thing worth focusing on for us is… the ones that we can control.

"I thought some of them were harsh, but it was both ways and I think there's no point in getting too caught up with it."

Townsend & Darge on Half-time Frustration and Concern

Scotland took a three-point lead into the break, but many believed the gap could've been far greater thanks to several missed opportunities throughout the first period. Townsend and Darge seemed to dismiss these sentiments, focusing on the performance throughout the match.

GREGOR TOWNSEND: "I don't think we'd use adjectives like 'frustrated'. I think we had to look onto the second half, what was working and what England might do to repel that. You learn during that first half.

"We were expecting England to have more possession in the second half and bring their game into play, so we knew there would be momentum swings. I don't think any of the players were frustrated during that half-time about not being further ahead."

RORY DARGE: "There wasn't a concern at half-time. It was more 'let's keep doing the same and eventually those opportunities will come.

"England came out in the second half and raised their game. We probably had less opportunities in the second half than in the first. Looking back it's easy to say you just need to take them.

"Looking back, it's easy to say you just need to take opportunities. It's promising the amount of opportunities that we get, but right now, after the game, it's just sort of a tough feeling."

Finn Russell's Wayward Kicking

The Bath fly-half, usually so reliable from the tee and thought to be a nailed-on Lions selection, missed all of his three attempts for the posts throughout the match. Both Darge and Townsend were quick to defend the former Racing 92 man in the post-match conference, including when Townsend was asked about a potential change of placekicker for the rest of the championship.

RORY DARGE: "I think [Finn]'s the same as all of us. There were loads of opportunities outside of those kicks that everyone across the team missed."

GREGOR TOWNSEND: "I don't think [we'll change kicker]. Finn was and is an outstanding goal kicker. He was last season. They were tough kicks."

Townsend sums up where the game got away

Despite putting away two more tries than the opposition, Scotland found themselves on the losing end of a Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham for the first time since 2017. Townsend spoke frankly about the areas where his side let themselves down and allowed England to stop their run of four consecutive defeats to the Scots.

GREGOR TOWNSEND: "A lot went right. We scored three tries to one, to get that possession and amount of yards would've made a lot in the game. They were the positives, and the negatives were partly us, but also England.

"I thought they defended really well in their 22. They kept their discipline – often when you get in the 22 you manage to get a penalty from offside, we didn't get that. And I thought they were really strong close to the ruck.

"We know we can be better when we've got those opportunities and we tend to convert chances that we have."

Townsend on back row selection headache

Scotland do have some positives to take from this match – including the continued brilliance of their back row options. Four world-class players – Edinburgh's Jamie Ritchie, plus Glasgow trio Darge, Jack Dempsey & Matt Fagerson – are vying for the three starting positions at the rear of the Scottish scrum. Townsend spoke proudly of the player's efforts and the impact they had on the game, especially the shift put in by former captain Ritchie.

GREGOR TOWNSEND: "I thought Jamie had one of his best ever games for Scotland. I think Jack does so much for us carrying-wise and he's obviously still playing back to full fitness.

"We were always going to bring Matt on early for what he can bring and I thought he had a really good impact. And Rory was fantastic – he's been an excellent leader over this campaign. The back row were very good today."

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