Scotland’s final flourish against Italy was reward for the fans, said Gregor Townsend, but he conceded it was a mixed performance to finish the Guinness Six Nations.
The head coach – who said he’d have discussions after some time off about his future with Scotland – didn’t quite agree with the injured Stuart Hogg’s view on TV that Scotland had been fortunate.
‘We scored four tries to one’
How Gregor Townsend could last till almost full time to eat the Haribo I’ll never know. Wondered if he was keeping them for man of the match!
🏉 @Scotlandteam @HariboUKI_ pic.twitter.com/VG4Hd2SbmV— Julie McCall (@topazjules07) March 18, 2023
“It could have gone the other way, absolutely,” he said. “When a team has a five-metre penalty against you, if they execute that…
“But that’s not how the game went. We scored four tries to one, and we were on their line on a few occasions just before half-time.
“We’re going to look at our game and think we could have really kicked on when we were 19-6 up, and maybe the scoreline would have been totally different if we had scored just before half-time.”
He wasn’t shouting at the team to put the ball in touch when they launched the length-of-the-field try in red-time to complete Blair Kinghorn’s hat-trick.
“We knew it was over 80 minutes so getting through the scrum was important. Fair play to the guys for attacking the space, and having the speed and skill to execute.
“It was brilliant for our crowd too. They’ve been so connected with the team this year, whether it was a win against Wales or defeat against Ireland.
“They’ve backed the team and they got a real lift with that last try to finish off our campaign.”
‘That was quality’
"Best aerial finish I've ever seen" 😍
Can you name a better one than this Duhan van der Merwe special v Italy?
Watch here ➡️ https://t.co/0yUa62DK4e pic.twitter.com/37JHG6FOUd
— Rugby World (@Rugbyworldmag) March 18, 2023
The coach has never seen a better finish than Duhan van der Merwe’s try, he said.
“That was quality,” he said. “I actually didn’t mention it to him after the game, I was busy praising his left-hand pass to set up Blair (for the final try) rather than his finish.
“It was a brilliant finish. I thought Duhan worked really hard. We all see his carries and how that tires defenders and sets people up for the next phase.
“He’s had an excellent tournament and it was great to see him contribute to two tries today.”
In an overview, Townsend thought the losses to France and Ireland were “the most important games”.
“The way we played against France in adversity was so encouraging for the team, to know that we can come back against a top quality side.
“It was frustrating as well because we had enough chances to score two or three more tries. The Ireland game is very important for us because we play them in a few months time in the last pool game of the World Cup.
“For a half we played probably our best 40 minutes of the Six Nations, and we need to do that for 80 minutes against the top teams.
“The other three games, Twickenham was brilliant, a really good team performance without that much ball, brilliant team try at the end, brilliant team defence to win it. Wales was when things clicked in attack.
‘We’ll be disappointed by some aspects of today’
The best snaps from this afternoon's action 📸
Gallery ➡️ https://t.co/TkyRQUKWX0 pic.twitter.com/3ct5d6aWrx
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) March 18, 2023
“We’ll be disappointed with some aspects of today but to get the win, to get four tries, is good reward.
“Our attack has shown we can score tries, score them out wide and we’re stressing teams across the field. Our defence has stood up on a few occasions as well. But both areas we’re continuing to work to improve.”
Townsend is out of contract at the end of the World Cup, and he said initial discussions about his future had begun.
“I’m getting some time over the next few weeks to have a bigger chat about it in more depth,” he said. “The focus in the last two weeks has been these games. After a few days off I’m sure these conversations will start up again.
“I’ve indicated I need some time to think about it, especially when the tournament was in full flow. Discussions will start again soon, we’ll see how they develop.
“Honestly, I’ve tried to put it to the side. Your brain has only so much capacity on one thing and that for me is to do the best I can as the team’s coach, now.
“I’m thrilled with these players are playing at their best level and that’s exciting. I believe the team feel they’ve got the game to take on anyone in the world, but we have to keep striving to be better.”