True to type, Gregor Townsend accepted that Scotland were beaten by the better team on the day, generously heaping praise on a “quality” Irish side and declining to lay any blame for his side’s defeat on referee Romain Poite.
After last year’s 28-8 defeat by Ireland in Dublin, Townsend said that Scotland were three or four years behind Ireland in terms of their development, but believes his team are narrowing the gap.
“I think all the teams in this tournament and in the top 10 in the world are competitive. We’re ranked seventh in the world and Ireland are ranked second. Last year we created opportunities in the first half to score, and today I felt that it was a really competitive Test match.
“There wasn’t much between both teams. In the first half I think we had more of the game. In the second half we are disappointed that we weren’t accurate enough to put more pressure on Ireland.
“They are a quality side, and they stuck to their game even though we were forcing errors. They obviously had to deal with a couple of injuries as well, and despite the fact that both team’s energy levels did go down in the second half, they were more accurate than us and that’s why they got the win.”
Townsend’s respect for Joe Schmidt and this Irish team is on record, and he was generous in his praise again, not least in the set-piece try scored by Jacob Stockdale.
“We always expect a really good set-piece play, which they brought out and scored, so credit to Joe and the players for executing it. That was an outstanding try. They’re very strong in contact which gives you a choice to compete or not compete. We competed hard and with our line speed in defence we managed to get a lot of balls back off their attack, so that was something of a bonus and was probably frustrating them.
“We got a lot of our attacking game into play as well and really good decisions and good work-rate off the ball meant that we were finding space, and if we were able to replicate that first half in the second half, then I think we’d be here with a win.
“I think both team’s energy levels dropped in the second half because of the effort that went into the first half, because the tackles, the carries and the contact work was at a very high level, so I don’t think you can keep that going for the 80 minutes.”
Asked where he saw the game lost from a Scottish perspective, Townsend said: “Our execution in the second-half. We played very well in the first half. We probably could have got one try more, and we were frustrated with the way we gifted them a try through our error, but I’m very happy with how we played in the first half.
“In the second half, the execution of our set-piece plays to get us into our game and put more pressure on Ireland, just didn’t happen.
“I’m really so proud of the players today, with the way they played, and the effort they put in. A game of rugby is a lot of things, it’s the defence battle that you have to do, the contact battle, the kicking game now is so important and the pressure that we put on Ireland’s kicks and what we do with kick return ball, I thought we won those battles.
“Our contact work against a very good defence, which will look to hold you up in the tackle, that will rip the ball, or put people over the ball, was outstanding today. Just that final piece, or the execution off set-piece, which has been really good, that fell off the jigsaw today, and that’s my fault.
“I’m the attack coach, and we weren’t able to get those two or three phases either to get in behind the defence or set up our attack shape, which was working well in the first half.”
After a very bright start, Scotland lost much of their cutting edge with the departure of full-back Stuart Hogg due to a shoulder injury sustained when colliding with two Irish players but here again the classy Townsend was not inclined to lay any blame.
“He’s very sore, he wanted to stay on but his shoulder was not right, so we’ll see what happens in the next few days, but he is very sore. It was disappointing. He chipped ahead, and he got sandwiched between two players. These things happen quickly but there was a collision there that forced him to fly over and land on the point of his shoulder, and it was a big moment in the game. I think we conceded a try a minute after that, and lost one of our best players.”
Similarly, while his captain Greig Laidlaw made plain his evident disappointment with Poite both during and after the game, particularly with regard to one decision when awarding Ireland a scrum for a knock-on when Sean O’Brien ripped the ball in contact, Townsend declined to do so.
“I think nines are always frustrated when they can’t get the ball away cleanly and quickly. There was an incident on the screen with two Irish hands on the ball, and Greig ripped them away from it, and he was probably frustrated having seen that picture a number of times.
“So you can understand his frustration. But it’s a tough game to referee, Romain is an outstanding referee, and today was a proper test match with two teams in the way they defend and compete hard at the breakdown, and is difficult for referees to manage.”
