6N: Gregor Townsend hopes that trip to Spain can help Scotland bounce back from Irish disappointment
Yesterday at 05:00 PM
SCOTLAND will head to Spain next week for a warm-weather training camp ahead of taking on England in round three of the 2025 Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday 22nd February (kick-off at 4.45pm).
Gregor Townsend’s side need to bounce back from a painful defeat to Ireland last weekend, which blew a massive hole in their ambitions of being serious championship contenders this season, and the head coach is hoping that a mid-tournament change of scene can have an invigorating affect on his beleaguered squad as they prepare for a pivotal match.
The Scots will be up against an England side high in confidence after their shock home win over France on Saturday, and if they lose this Calcutta Cup clash then the pressure will really begin to pile up on top of Townsend and his players, leaving them needing to win both their remaining matches (against struggling Wales at Murrayfield on 8th March and then against France in Paris on 15th March) in order to avoid the charge that they have reached stagnation point.
The Monday Bulletin (10th February): World Cup qualifiers confirmed and Scottish Cup is back on
2024-25 Premiership Leaderboard – for weekending 9th February
Edinburgh issue encouraging injury update
"We've done that [gone on a warm-weather training camp] every time we've gone to Twickenham – we usually start the campaign against them – and it's worked well,” said Townsend, alluding to his team’s record of five wins (including the last four games on the bounce) and one draw out of seven Calcutta Cup matches played during his tenure.
“It means that – touch wood – we get guaranteed warm-weather training, then we fly directly on the Thursday into London,” added Townsend, who added that he believes that Scotland’s French and English based players will not be called back to their clubs this week, meaning that they can focus fully on the international task at hand.
"I don't think there will be too many players playing this weekend. Chatting to the French coaches, they've been pretty good with their plans for Blair Kinghorn [at Toulouse] and Ben White [at Toulon]. And there's no English Premiership games. Finn Russell [at Bath] might not be available anyway [after suffering a head injury against Ireland], so we should have a fresh group ready and available for that week's preparation.
“It might change, but just now I think they [the French clubs] realise that someone like Ben and Blair, they've been here three weeks, they've trained hard, maybe their clubs are going well in the league, which helps. And they've said it might change if they need them back.”
With Scottish Rugby in the middle of a major belt-tightening process in response to reporting losses of over £10m in back-to-back Annual Reports, this trip is certain to raise a few eyebrows amongst those who feel the base of the game is shouldering a disproportionate share of the burden compared to the elite end, but it is not Townsend’s job to balance the books. He’ll ask for what he believes he needs to prepare his team to the best of their ability, and it is up to Performance Director David Nucifora and new Chief Executive Alex Williamson to decide whether each request will deliver value for money.
"Well, guaranteed training outdoors,” replied Townsend, when asked to explain specifically how a trip to the Iberian Peninsula will help the team prepare for a game in London in mid-February. “All the nations have had training camps. I think Wales were in France, Ireland were in Portugal, and England were in Spain or Portugal.
"I think the risk of training in January, February … We've been lucky this last couple of weeks, we trained outdoors, but often you don't do that.
"We've always done it on away games. You're flying to the venue for away games, so it just gives a chance to get guaranteed training, but also be together. And it's worked really well. I think the three occasions we've done it, we've won at Twickenham, and at Cardiff last year. So it's meant that we've gone into those games well prepared."
Townsend was keen to highlight that – regardless of Scotland’s excellent recent record against England – a huge challenge awaits in a fortnight’s time, especially in the light of Steve Borthwick‘s team’s impressive win over France, which will be a huge boost to self-belief and squad cohesion.
"I know they played really well against Ireland last year, two weeks after we'd played them, and then they were very competitive against the All Blacks in the summer. They then had three very close games at Twickenham against quality opposition although they lost them all. And they started really well against Ireland two weeks ago, and they had a great win [against France].
"So they're obviously competitive in every game they play. They're always going to have strengths. They've got some brilliant players throughout their system and they'll be full of confidence next time they play.
"I think conditions played a part [in the England versus France match], but what you saw was a really good attacking intent at times. They made some breaks against France, they hung in there so they must be a fit team, [and] they're physical [because] they stopped France scoring a few times with some great moments in defence.
"It was a cracking game and obviously, to get a win in the last couple of minutes of the game shows sport at its best, and a win like that will give them massive confidence.
"So yeah, they're going to be strong at home – we know that. And on the back of a win I think they'll be even more confident of where their game is."
- You can book your Six Nations hospitality and VIP tickets with Seat Unique HERE, an Official Hospitality Partner of The Murrayfield Experience
The post 6N: Gregor Townsend hopes that trip to Spain can help Scotland bounce back from Irish disappointment appeared first on Scottish Rugby News from The Offside Line.
