Scotland are not back to Ground Zero in the Guinness 6 Nations and will face the flak they deserve for another disappointing performance in Paris, says Tommy Seymour.
With games against a rampant, Grand Slam seeking Wales at Murrayfield and England at Twickenham to come, Scotland facing the real possibility of just a single win over Italy after two years where it seemed progress was being made.
But the wing said it would be a “doing a bit of a disservice” to say they had reverted to the more familiar championship campaigns of recent years.
But the team expected and deserved criticism for failing to make much impact in Paris, where they were probably flattered by the 27-10 scoreline to France.
“I wouldn’t be as harsh as to say (we’re back to) ground zero,” he said. ‘We’re frustrated on the basis that we have made progress – but ultimately haven’t managed to get the result here.
“I don’t think we go back to the drawing board and say everything needs to change, that everything we’ve achieved, every bit of progress over the last months and years is now obsolete.
“I don’t think that at all. I just think we’ve got to be better.”
He did concede that “it’s our turn” for the kind of critical scrutiny the French had faced and reacted to on Saturday.
“There aren’t many teams you’ll be up against in a test match who aren’t emotional and desperate to get a result,” he continued. “We obviously knew they would be under the pump with what’s happened to them in the championship.
“After this, it’s our turn to take a bit of that. We react within our group and our coaching staff, put one foot in front of the other and concentrate on the next game in two weeks’ time.
“Back at Murrayfield against Wales, that is now a massive test for us.”
Seymour wouldn’t take the excuse of the absence of key injured players like Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell for why the Scottish backline didn’t click until the game was out of reach.
“I think that would be an easy out for us to take,” he continued. “I don’t consider, for one moment, that the personnel we had out there were not capable of doing what we needed to do, that they weren’t in the right head space, that they weren’t completely in control of what their role was.
“As a collective, we weren’t where we needed to be. We had the talent on the park to get a result, we just didn’t execute.”
Gregor Townsend also declined to pinpoint the missing key players, although he did admit the likes of Hogg and Russell enhanced the team.
“It wasn’t a question of the players we had, it was how we performed as a team,” said the head coach. “If we have everyone available with the likes of Stuart and Finn who’ve played well for us in the past, the potential of the team stretches.
“But we didn’t play to our potential and that’s what’s really disappointing.”
Townsend said they would see in the next week or so who might be available for the game against Wales, who will come to Murrayfield seeking the fourth leg of a Grand Slam after their victory over England in Cardiff.
Russell’s concussion injury which caused him to miss the match in Paris has not been re-assessed by Scottish medics and Townsend didn’t know whether his club Racing 92 had restarted the player’s return to play protocol.
It had been hoped that injured players like Hogg, Hamish Watson and Sam Skinner could come back into the reckoning for the Wales game, but those issues would all be assessed in the coming week, said Townsend.