Six Nations: Italy v Scotland reaction: Townsend defiant after Roman ...

SCOTLAND head coach Gregor Townsend said he wasn’t prepared to discuss whether his position is now under threat following this [Saturday] afternoon’s demoralising loss to Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. His current contract, which he signed last May, runs until April 2026.

“I’m not going to answer that question,” he said. “We’re disappointed with the result today, but we know this team have come on since the World Cup. We can look at this result and be really disappointed, but I’ve been really proud of how this team’s played during the championship so far.

Townsend was keen to pay tribute to the victors, but accepted that Scotland were the architects of their own downfall. “There are two teams that play the game, not just one,” he reasoned. “I thought that Italy were very good even in the first half where we dominated most of the possession. But our actions after the try that was disallowed weren’t good enough.

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“We gave Italy a way into the game through penalties and field position. If you give that to any team in the Six Nations, they’re going to take the points, which they did.

“It’s very frustrating that we didn’t get that try, which is down to our execution, and after that it was even more frustrating.”

“Why did it happen? You saw the actions. Players make decisions where they believe they are doing the right thing. We took a decision to go for a line-out and then there was contact in the air which was one of the penalties.

“Pierre Schoman’s penalty [in the lead-up to George Horne’s disallowed try at the start of the second half] for blocking was a lapse in concentration. The focus has to be better. We did a lot of good work in the first half, a lot of effort went into the game, but that 20-minute period wasn’t good enough.

“It hurts a lot. Any time you lose, it’s really disappointing, as a coaching group and also as a playing group. But it’s all part of sport. We’ll get over it. The team will get over it and we know we need to play much better next week because we’re playing the best team in the world right now away from home.

“The disappointment we feel now has to be fuelled into how we get better.”

Townsend defiantly insisted that he still has faith in this squad of players, despite their infuriating twin habits of blowing winning positions and backing up positive performances with sub-standard ones. But few outside the camp will regard Scotland of having even an outside chance of toppling title-chasing Ireland in their final match of this Six Nations campaign in Dublin next Saturday, meaning another year with just two wins to show from five games.

Their opponents next week will be highly motivated to make amends after their Grand Slam hopes were dashed by a last minute drop-goal from England playmaker Marcus Smith at Twickenham this evening.

‘Yes, of course I do [believe in the team], I believe in this group,” the coach asserted. “You can look at results and say: ‘We’ve lost to Italy, this team aren’t going to take that next step’. Or you can look at where we’ve grown since the World Cup.”

“I still believe the performances the players are putting in can show we can beat anybody. But if we take our eye off the ball for a period of time, we can be beaten. That’s what happened today.

“We won in Wales for the first time [since 2002] this year,” he added. “We retained the Calcutta Cup. We had a decision go against us in the game with France. This result is very disappointing. We’ve lost against a good Italy side, one of the best Italian teams I’ve seen. But today is not what defines this team. Next week will define it, but the weeks before defined it as well.”

Pressed on the similarities between this loss and the performance in Wales, when a commanding leads was frittered away to the point where Scotland escaped Cardiff with a single point win and no bonus point, Townsend claimed the games had two entirely different narratives.

“I look at the Wales game differently than today’s game,” he said. “I think the penalties in today’s game were justified. They were completely our doing, which was frustrating and disappointing.

“Even more disappointing was the seven points we didn’t take [George Horne’s disallowed try]. We went through a number of phrases, scored a very good try, and it was brought back for blocking. That was seven points that would have extended our lead, but it ended up giving Italy field position. You need to learn that you can’t give away repeated penalties at any point in the game. If you do that, it’ll put you in trouble.

“We made some great decisions in the first half [today]. The players showed great skill and effort in the first half. They showed great effort at the end of the game to potentially come back and win. But there are errors in games and decisions that you’d like to have back.

“We know that these errors will be highlighted – and rightly highlighted – when we lose. It hurts more when you lose. We need to be better next week, we know that for sure.

“We’re disappointed for the supporters. The support they gave the team was fantastic. But it’s sport. Two weeks ago, the atmosphere at Murrayfield and reaction to us beating England was fantastic. Today, they are right to be disappointed in the team, as we are. We believed that if we’d carried on playing as we were in the first half, it would have been a win. But it’s not. Italy deserved their victory. They played very well.

“It’s a massive blow. It would be worse if it was our last game of the tournament and you have months to stew on it. We’ve got a week now to improve and to make sure we don’t make the same errors as we did today.

“We’re playing an Ireland team who are the best out there right now. We’re still playing for something tangible, which is the Triple Crown.

“We’re disappointed we’re not going to be playing for any more than that, but it gives us huge motivation to improve from today.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t kick on in the second half. The minutes after the try was disallowed were clearly not good enough.”

Six Nations: Italy v Scotland report: visitors fall apart