Close menu

Six Nations: Scotland 'need to improve' after 'biggest win' for Gregor Townsend

By Andy BurkeBBC Scotland

Last updated on .From the section Scottish Rugbycomments62

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend says the Calcutta Cup win over England was the biggest of his coaching career.

His side produced one of the great Scottish performances to earn a 25-13 win over the back-to-back Six Nations champions at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Townsend has masterminded wins over Australia - home and away - and France, and won a Pro12 title with Glasgow, but says the England win tops the lot.

"From a coaching perspective, that's the biggest win," he said.

"We came very close to beating the number one team in the world [a narrow loss to New Zealand in November]. Now we've beaten the number two team.

"I think the first half here and the first half of the New Zealand game were similar, in our intent to play where we believed we would get success. The difference was we finished off opportunities.

"It wasn't the complete performance. But the way we defended in the second half, especially in the last two minutes, when the clock ticked to 80 and we were still defending - I'm very proud of the players' efforts."

Scotland had not beaten France and England at home in the same year since 2006, the year they enjoyed their highest Six Nations finish of third place.

In the past 12 months they have also beaten Ireland, Wales and Australia twice, and with away games against Ireland (on 10 March) and Italy (on 17 March) to come, Townsend believes there is still more to come from his team.

"We want to improve," said the former fly-half, who is in his first Six Nations campaign as head coach.

"It is about progress. Finding a way to win but getting better.

"That was much more like the standard of performance we put in in November. We still weren't at our best. That was getting closer. We need to improve."

Townsend paid tribute to Finn Russell, the fly-half who was much maligned for his performances against Wales and France, but responded with a scintillating display which earned him the man-of-the-match award.

"Finn was outstanding in November, taking on the best teams in the world. He was world class.

"He hasn't had the best of starts to the Six Nations. But he played like he did in November.

"We ask a lot of our 10s, they have to be brilliant every time. There will be errors.

"The pleasing thing was seeing Finn play the rugby we know he can play. Putting passes in space, tackling well, making good decisions.

"He created a lot of space for us and he can kick on from here. Every player goes through periods where they've not got into the game as quickly as they want. He was very well prepared for today."

Gregor Townsend congratulates Finn Russell after the victory over England
Gregor Townsend congratulates Finn Russell after the victory over England

'The team was world-class, not just an individual'

With praise for his performance coming from all corners, Russell was keen to share the plaudits with his team-mates.

"I couldn't have played like I did today without the boys round me giving me the support and knowing their game-plan as well as I did," said Russell, who will leave Glasgow at the end of the season in a big-money move to French side Racing 92.

Scotland's players take the applause of supporters after their win over England
Scotland's players celebrated victory over England with their supporters after the final whistle

"I think today the team was world-class, not just an individual.

"It's not quite settled in yet. It's an experience I've never had and a feeling I've never had.

"It was amazing to go out and beat England. Not even just beat them but the way we played. We played so well and executed the game-plan, not as well as we could, but well enough.

"There are still things to work on but it was a pretty good performance."

Russell said the criticism for his performances in the 34-7 defeat by Wales and the 32-26 win over France - he was substituted after 65 minutes - did not play on his mind.

"That's sport, that's the game we play in. You get the highs and the lows," said the 25-year-old.

"Last week we won and some people said I wasn't so good and against Wales the whole team got a slating.

"We've managed to bounce back against France and obviously today. That's the job we're in. You've got to accept the highs and the lows and we'll enjoy the high."

Six Nations table after Saturday's games

Comments

Join the conversation

These comments are now closed.

62 comments

  • Comment posted by U9635940, at 13:40 25 Feb 2018

    Actually I don’t think the bbc are being fair to Scotland. Putting the victory down to passion, national pride etc etc is the bbc playing up to Mel Gibson’s innacurate portrayal of Wallace, “freedom “ and all that!!

    Scotland won through superior rucking, counter rucking, scrummaging, defence and running better lines!

    In other words, good rugby, not kilts and warpaint! Correct praise please!

  • Comment posted by Batson_D_Belfry, at 13:56 25 Feb 2018

    2. I take it you did not watch the replays of the so-called controversial decisions by Owens. I thought he called a couple wrong in real-time, but in every case the replays have backed him up. That's class refereeing. He also kept the game moving well by giving players plenty warning when in danger of infringing. And his put-down to the two squabbling no.8's was masterly.

  • Comment posted by PlipPlop, at 14:05 25 Feb 2018

    @2 aaahh that old chestnut...if you lose, blame the referee

  • Comment posted by AG, at 14:05 25 Feb 2018

    Came to the site looking for the Guscott article on the weekend, where he has to address "England by 10-15" and "Russell will get worse". Struggling to find the words Jerry?

  • Comment posted by footyfan94, at 13:39 25 Feb 2018

    Can't believe "fans" were calling for Townsend's head after 1 defeat. This is a man who with Scotland has beaten Australia home and away, came within 5 points of beating NZ and got us playing the best rugby we have ever played and led Glasgow to the latter stages of the European Cup as well as making them the 1st Scottish Pro14 champs. Some fans are just so disloyal and should be eating humble pie

  • Comment posted by footyfan94, at 13:43 25 Feb 2018

    Can we get rid of the idea that Townsend is riding on the success of Cotter when if anything it's the other way around. Reid(2010-17), Dunbar, Seymour, Bennett, Hogg, Brown, J.Gray, Russell, Strauss(2012-17), Maitland (2012-15) and Price all of whom were contracted Glasgow players coached, trained and developed by Townsend on a weekly basis from 2011-17 were all mainstays of Cotter's Scotland team

  • Comment posted by PlipPlop2, at 13:56 25 Feb 2018

    Townsend & Scotland (and at times Wales) exposed a major Achilles heel in the way England play, when its an up tempo game with fast offloads, England just can’t cope. If Eddie Jones can’t sort that out their going to be in trouble against the AB’s

  • Comment posted by mincepies, at 17:42 25 Feb 2018

    Dunno about everyone else but to me the standard of rugby and spirit of the participants in this year's tournament has been exceptional. The two matches yesterday were superb. Even Italy, the unfortunate whipping boys this time, have played with heart and commitment and scored wonderful tries. In the fractured world we live in, the purity of sporting spectacle such as this is to be treasured...

  • Comment posted by tightheadprop, at 15:39 25 Feb 2018

    Come on Scotland, when you are playing opposition as weak as that you need to come away with the bonus point. Sloppy :-)

  • Comment posted by Tims Toys, at 14:17 25 Feb 2018

    They played great but left a few trys out there and sat back in the 2nd half but mind you the game was won in the first half if they can play like that against Ireland I think they'll win there attack is the best in the NH imo absolutely phenomenal they've come back from a poor 1st game in style and that's what class teams do get back up and come back stronger becoming a real force the Scots

  • Comment posted by Finlay307, at 17:11 25 Feb 2018

    @25 Paul.

    Yes a decent player who has won he last two six nations players of the year. (voted by fellow players). I assume you haven't watched that much of Scotland over the last few years.

    Also, on Nigel Owens. I thought he had a great game. The two disallowed tries were confirmed by the camera it was the correct decision. The yellow card was a blatant as it comes

  • Comment posted by Apodicticus, at 14:13 25 Feb 2018

    Terrific game, spot-on refeering (check the replays) but I was deeply embarrassed by the lack of silence for the kickers and booing of Eddie Jones at the end. This is rugby not football & we should learn from the Irish fans.

  • Comment posted by GivingUpTheGun, at 15:08 25 Feb 2018

    Stop moaning about the refereeing! Scotland deserved to beat England; they completely played them off the park.
    Well done, Scotland. I'll be cheering you on vs Ireland.

  • Comment posted by Pendoc, at 14:15 25 Feb 2018

    A pleasing win yes, but things to work on.
    1. Butchered try opportunity that would have given us a bonus point.
    2. Need to improve game management in last 15mins - gave up possession too easily especially against 14 men and struggled to get over gain line.
    Defence at the end outstanding though.
    Isn't it great to be able to be critical like that?!!

  • Comment posted by xcoach, at 13:35 25 Feb 2018

    I think the most pleasing aspect is that we have a home grown coach who is constantly looking to improve. However I do wish some of my countrymen would show some class in victory, some of the bile and nationalistic tripe spouted by some is an embarrassment. Clearly they are not rugby people.

  • Comment posted by Agoodbigun, at 08:57 26 Feb 2018

    Can't believe that anyone is still carping on about Nigel Owens, I have re-watched the game twice and he did not make a wrong decision for any penalty. There were four decisions given that were a bit marginal but as two of those were given in Englands favour, it was a very good and most of all, a very balanced refereeing performance. Take the blinkers off and watch it as human, not a blind troll.

  • Comment posted by U16651082, at 14:15 25 Feb 2018

    Wow, what a performance that was. Barclay, Watson and McInally were outstanding at the rucks, those turnovers won us the game. Great performance by every player. Great to see Huw Jones’s brilliant try scoring continue as well.

  • Comment posted by King of Kings 7, at 17:17 25 Feb 2018

    The key now for GT and the team is shaking the monkey off their backs that is trying to win away. Dublin will be a winner takes all shootout and Scotland need at least a 20% increase in every area of the game from yesterday's win if they are to win. #AsOne.

  • Comment posted by SirLimpsalot, at 13:29 25 Feb 2018

    A great if unexpected result. There's no such thing as a dead cert it seems....

  • Comment posted by Youarewelcome, at 19:59 25 Feb 2018

    Rugby is a real team game. Each position has a different role and they are not interchangeable. A scrum half cannot play tight head nor a second row fly half. All positions are specialists. Scotland has an outstanding out and out open side flanker as well as a very good blind side. Robshaw is not an openside, Lawes is not a flanker. We won in the back row and at fly half while Ford was anonymous.

Top Stories

Also in Sport

Featured