Scotland’s rugby team will not “take a knee” during the moment’s reflection on anti-racism before Saturday’s game against Wales at Murrayfield.
Head coach Gregor Townsend said that “both teams are going to stand and recognise rugby’s stand against racism and discrimination, like we have done in all previous games.”
Criticism was levelled at the Scots when four players knelt prior to Saturday’s Calcutta Cup game at Twickenham. The remainder of the squad of 23 stayed standing.
Some of England’s players also knelt, but no players did so during the moment of reflection in the other two Six Nations games in Cardiff and Rome.
“We know what is happening this weekend,” said Townsend. “As I said earlier, (the situation) took us by surprise and a number of our players weren’t aware of it.”
‘What rugby’s chosen to do’
Townsend added that standing for the moment of reflection “is what rugby’s chosen to do and we’ll follow that.”
“Everyone’s got an opinion on everything. If people have an opinion on this, that’s up to them,” he said. “There’s a moment to reflect, there are messages going up on the screens, everyone is watching on TV.”
Townsend said the criticism had not affected the players or taken the gloss off their first win at Twickenham in 38 years.
‘It was such a surprise for us’
“We have chatted about it (with the leadership group),” he said. “But it was such a surprise for us. There was no conscious decision to do anything differently to what we’d done in previous games.
“The surprise was English players taking the knee. Some of our players saw that and thought, ‘I’ve got a decision to make, do I do this or do I not.’
“We back our players no matter what decision they make. Not every player in the English team took a knee. If they’ve chosen not to, that’s their personal choice.
“It was just the fact that no-one was aware that that was going to happen.”
