Gregor Townsend didn’t hold back on his Scotland team after the team were crushed by Ireland in Yokohama for a shocking start to their Rugby World Cup campaign in Japan, admitted Ryan Wilson.
One of four Scotland captains in the most experienced side in terms of caps ever selected to play for Scotland, Wilson conceded that the dressing room afterwards had heard some harsh truths.
“We got what we deserved in the changing room from Gregor,” said the No 8 after thw 27-3 defeat. “We are disappointed in ourselves. He can see that. He knows we did not do well enough out there.
“He is measured about it, he knows how disappointed we will be. The coaching staff feel the same way. We are the ones who get to go out there and do the job on the field and it must be hard to watch.
“We can put that right so we have plenty to do in training but we still have a good chance in this pool in the next three games.
“We will be alright. We know now we have to win every game. We were playing a good team in Ireland and they showed that tonight. We just have to stay positive and we have a big test up next against Samoa who are a team we can play our brand of rugby against and we can come out on top.”
Wilson said he “had no theory” as why Scotland didn’t start better having spent so much time and detail aiming to peak for this game.
“I think what went wrong is easy to fix,” he said. “Mistake after mistake and if you don’t exit well they’ve got you in a driving maul. We win a set piece then fumble the ball back in our half and we are putting ourselves under too much pressure there.
“They played with quick ball and they will thrive off that. It is something we did not deal with very well. It is up to us to get quick ball for ourselves, but again we were lacking in that.”
