6N debrief: disappointed and frustrated but Gregor Townsend still sees progress
Yesterday at 06:00 PM
GREGOR TOWNSEND did not seem as bullish in person as he has been in the past when asked about his own future as Scotland head coach, but the 51-year-old's words were unequivocal: he plans to carry on at least until his current contract runs out next April.
Speaking to the Scottish written press in a huddle outside the media auditorium at the magnificent Stade de France on Saturday night, Townsend spoke of disappointment and frustration at another two-win/fourth-place-finish Six Nations, but stressed that he still believes the team is headed in the right direction under his stewardship and suggested there is cause for optimism at the number of emerging players ready to come of age on the international stage.
The coach pointed specifically to Gregor Brown, who marked his first Six Nations start in the team’s 35-16 defeat to newly crowned champions France with the sort of dynamic and relentless display which we all expected based on his performances for Glasgow Warriors and off the bench for Scotland in recent months.
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In reality, the 23-year-old Brown’s inclusion in the starting XV in place of the 31-year-old Jonny Gray considerably reduced the average age of the team, but the overall profile of the squad is becoming a cause for concern looking forward to the World Cup in 2027.
29-year-old Zander Fagerson is the only other member of the front-five under the age of 30, with Dave Cherry and Grant Gilchrist very much in the ‘old warhorse’ stage of their careers at 34. The back-row of Rory Darge (24), Matt Fagerson (26) and Jamie Ritchie (28) has a more youthful feel to it.
In the backline, Finn Russell is 32, Huw Jones is 31 and Duhan van der Merwe will have hit 30 by the time he tours with either the Lions or Scotland this summer. With all of these players apart from Brown and Tom Jordan multi-season veterans of the international game, and the coach nearing the end of his eighth season in charge, there is a feeling amongst a sizeable chunk of Scottish rugby supporters and pundits that this is a team which should be performing at peak level now, rather than still promising that glory days are just around the corner.
The big question is whether someone else can get more out of Scotland’s limited player resources, or whether Townsend deserves more credit for what has been achieved on his watch in terms of being consistently competitive against the top sides, even if that has not translated into better outcomes in the tournaments which matter (ie. the Six Nations and the World Cup)?
It does feel like there is still some glaring gaps in this squad. Russell said with a grin on Friday that he thinks he has four or five Six Nations left, and that may well be true, but the lack of an obvious successor to Scottish rugby’s on-field ring-master is an already pressing concern which will become more urgent with every passing campaign.
Meanwhile, Townsend claimed afterwards that the decision to leave Zander Fagerson on for the full 80 minutes against France was down to the player’s performance not dropping off in the way we expect for a tight-head prop facing one of the best scrums in world rugby, and then having to do it all over again when France sent on their ‘bomb squad’ early in the second half. The suggestion was that Fagerson has discovered some sort of super-power which means he doesn’t tire like mere mortals, but the reality is that there is a striking lack of depth in that other crucial position which leaves the team underpowered and vulnerable if the main man goes down.
“I’ve got a contract,” said Townsend, when asked about his own future.
He was then asked if he had considered stepping aside and replied: “No, not at all. It wouldn’t be the right thing to do anyway. There’s mixed feelings but the biggest feeling I have is pride and encouragement for that display tonight. It would have been good if we’d taken it like the England game and still been in the mix going into the last ten minutes. That’s the thing we have to improve, just that precision and accuracy.
"I still feel a massive privilege being in this role. It gives me a big purpose in my life.
"You need time to reflect as well after tournaments because I know what I’m like. I’m really proud of the performance tonight, but as soon as I start watching the video again, I’ll be down for a few days. But my initial feelings, like they were in Twickenham, and they’re genuine.
"This is what we’re asking of our team to go and deliver, and they did it in really tough circumstances and tough environments. So that’s the basis of a team that can kick on.
“The effort, the togetherness and the physicality, which has maybe been questioned in the past … we’ve shown more often than not this season in the Six Nations that we can front up against the biggest packs.
“I’m encouraged by the displays,” continued Townsend, reflecting on the tournament overall. “I’m encouraged by the players that are coming through. We have some players missing [including skipper Sione Tuipulotu, Scott Cummings and Max Williamson] who are going to add to our group, then I look at some of the players who have come into our squad this year. Tom Jordan, he’s played so many minutes. He came into the squad as a 10/15, and is now playing outstandingly well at centre.
“You’ve got Gregor Brown who played so well on Saturday night. The players are coming through to keep driving us forward. So that is encouraging for the future.
"There’s a bit of disappointment there. The big disappointment was the Ireland game. We set high standards for ourselves and even though we picked up those two injuries early in the game, we still were really disappointed with that performance.
"We fought our way back into it but to not come through that game with pushing Ireland closer, that was disappointing. The other performances I thought were very good and even the two away defeats, I thought the way the players played at Twickenham and Paris … these are some of the best performances I believe a Scotland team has put in in those two venues.
"We’re frustrated we didn’t win at Twickenham and we’re disappointed we didn’t win in Paris, but we had more chances to win at Twickenham than at astade de France."
“I just felt the way the players fronted up physically [against France] … young Scottish players, some of them haven’t played that many games for Scotland, it shows that they’re really encouraging for the future around the second-row,” added Townsend, referring to Marshall Sykes and Ewan Johnson (who both made their Six Nations debuts off the bench), as well Brown.
"Some of the experienced guys that played really well this year like Dave Cherry and Grant Gilchrist, we’ve got a strong pack and in the games we’ve been challenged to front up – South Africa, England, France, maybe not as much against Ireland, – they performed well.
“Some of the tries in the Wales game and the Italy game in particular were through hard work from forwards that was maybe not making a lot of yards but it’s then narrowing up the defence for our backs to play. Saturday night was the best our forwards have carried all season.
"We’ve been building that game this year. We’ve been building a game that at times doesn’t look as dynamic because you’re carrying close to the ruck either through pick and goes or or off nine, but it shapes the defence.
“This time we showed what a good scrum we have and last week as well. I think it's about precision. Just those moments where whether it’s staying in touch or just getting a ball into hands when you’ve had a lot of attacking play. Sometimes they prevent you from scoring but also the opposition can pick up seven points on the back of it.
“But a lot of what we have in place, the style of game I really believe gets the most out of our strength which is getting the ball to the backs in space. We’re growing a game now that our forwards can be more involved in. The effort the players are bringing is definitely there. So, yeah, I would say it’s not big things [which need to improve]. Precision would be the major one.
“So, of course it is frustrating [to finish fourth] but no team can play well for five games and no team has not lost a game this year. Last year Ireland lost against England, this year France lost against England. Our game that we didn’t play at our highest level was Ireland.
"I know we didn’t win against England, but it was still a very good performance. It shows we’re close to those teams. France have had an amazing tournament and have blown teams away and had a big win away to Ireland and on Saturday night we went toe to toe with them. We really did.
"Whether that’s up front or whether it’s speed at our backs played at, our set-piece, it was encouraging. What’s frustrating is we didn’t finish high on the table."
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