DISCIPLINE IS KEY, SAYS TOWNSEND

GREGOR TOWNSEND has warned Scotland they must keep 15 men on the pitch if they are to have any chance of beating Ireland at BT Murrayfield tomorrow. And he has ordered his players to comply with the ‘zero tolerance’ approach being shown towards foul play by referees in this year’s Six Nations. In Scotland’s last three games, Zander Fagerson has been sent off against Wales, Finn Russell sin-binned against England, while Duncan Taylor was also yellow-carded against the Irish in the Autumn Nations Cup. Now head coach Townsend says it is vital they keep their discipline against an Ireland side who have won nine of the last ten meetings against the Scots. ‘We are conscious of the trend over the last two or three weeks where there have been more cards given than ever before,’ said Townsend, who expects French official Romain Poite to come down hard on offenders tomorrow afternoon. ‘Our players have had to deal with more red cards being shown in international and club games, whether that’s with Glasgow, Edinburgh, Gloucester, Exeter. In

the England game, we did very well when we were a man down. At times in the Wales game, we made it too easy for them to exploit the fact we were a man down.

‘We are aware of the directives that referees are getting just now to be much stricter on offsides, to police what happens in front of the kicker, to speed up the game, to call “use it” to scrum-halves when they are kicking, and to have zero tolerance around foul play, so we expect Romain to referee at the level he normally referees at Test level.’

On Fagerson’s dismissal, Townsend said: ‘It’s a tricky balance at the ruck between being legal and aggressive because it’s the one area in the game where you have to be aggressive, especially when people are contesting for ball, and there’s a likelihood you are going to connect with the upper body of that player if their head is close to the ground.

‘It’s different from the high tackle because, in that case, you make a conscious decision to go to a height which puts you in trouble, whereas when you are clearing out contact you have to be low, aggressive and quick.

‘So we’ve got to make sure we are showing proper technique and that we’re winning races before the jackler has a chance to get on the ball. If we lose a race, then we are likely to be coming in with more pace and the jackler is maybe latched on to the ball, so it is a tricky area and we’ve seen more cards given.

‘Zander’s red against Wales was very rare for us and our contact work has been excellent in the first two games, as has that of Ireland, so we just have to focus on what we do in training and not move away from making sure the players’ technique is right when we go into contact.’

Scotland’s last scheduled game, against France, was postponed because of a Covid outbreak in the opposition camp, which means they haven’t played since their defeat to Wales a month ago.

Townsend’s team selection shows four changes from that clash at Murrayfield, with WP Nel in for the suspended Fagerson in the front row, Jamie Ritchie back in place of Blade Thomson in the back row, Sean Maitland taking over from Darcy Graham on the wing and centre Sam Johnson replacing James Lang.

Townsend said discussions were continuing over the delayed match in Paris, which has been given a provisional date of Friday, March 26, but insisted he would not agree to it until he is assured that all his England-based stars are made available.

As the new date falls outwith the international window, there is no obligation on English clubs to release their Scottish internationals.

‘I know that’s the day which will be acceptable to everyone — French rugby, Scottish rugby, Six Nations and the broadcasters — but there are still discussions about player release which are ongoing,’ said Townsend.

‘Obviously for the tournament to have a proper game, you need to have everybody available from the clubs, and a number of our squad play in England and France.

‘So we hope it will be the 26th and the Six Nations are working towards getting a solution where all our players are available for selection, just like the French.’