Townsend left to rue fine margins

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend felt just “one or two m om e n t s ” – specifically the only try of the game – were the crucial difference in Scotland losing to France in the Autumn Nations Cup and going on to a possible final with England.

V ir im i Va k a t a w a ’s converted try just after half-time was the points difference between the sides as France won 22-15, but Townsend conceded his team had not played at their best.

“It was an arm-wrestle that was going to be decided by one or two moments and them scoring their try was the difference,” he said.

“We’ ll look at other opportunities or errors that were made that could have put us in a d i ff e r e n t position for scoring.

“It is always frustrating when you lose and don’t play your best.

“We knew it was going to be a game with a lot of kicking and in games like that you have to work hard, be patient, minimise your errors and you have to make sure you get on the good side of the referee, which we didn’t at times.”

The head coach is certain that progress is still being made by his side over the disrupted year as a whole.

“If you look over 2020, w e h a v e sh own comm i tm en t and togetherness, and shown we are tough to break down and beat. That was another game that underlined that.

“But we had penalties against us and errors of execution that we know we have to eradicate if we are a team that wins these close games and reaches its potential.”

A meeting with Ireland– beaten 18-7 by England at Twickenham on Saturday – in Dublin seems the most likely scenario for the last game of the autumn, as Scotland now have a week off after the cancellation of the Fiji game because of the

Covid-19 outbreak in the Pacific Islanders’ squad.

“Ideally we just want our best performance of the year, whether it be at Twickenham, Dublin or Llanelli,” he said.

“We’ll be playing against a team we’re going to meet again in a few months’ time.

“It will be a great way to finish off this campaign on a high, and prepare for that big tournament after Christmas.”

Wing Blair Kinghorn went to hospital to have a finger injury X-rayed but there were no other major injuries from the game, added Townsend.

Captain Stuart Hogg thought his side controlled the game for the majority of the match.

“We thought we nullified everything that France were coming here to do,” he said. “But unfortunately we’ve made a couple of mistakes and you can’t do that in international rugby.

“I think we shut

France down. They wanted to bring a running game but all they did was kick to us.

“We can take a huge amount of confidence away from the way we defended, but there are some disappointed boys there, and rightly so.”

Hogg feels the team are still heading in the right direction and is relishing the final game of the Autumn Nations Cup.

“I was proud of the boys’ efforts,” he added.

“We fronted up for large portions of that game, forced France into a kicking game and we stayed patient in our kick battle.

“It was all about the team who cracked first that would end up on the wrong end of the result.

“We switched off for 30 seconds and allowed them to score.

“We know where we’ve gone wrong and we’ll look to make amends.

“We’ve not turned into a bad team overnight and we’re excited about our next challenge.”

CRUCIAL MOMENTS: A Scotland break is halted as Chris Harris is wrestled down.