Scots leave some room for improvement – and keep Townsend happy
● Victory and five tries in coach’s first game in charge but still plenty to work on
Throughout his career, Gregor Townsend has claimed the best feeling for a coach comes when the team have won, preferably with a bit of style, but he can still see plenty of areas where he can make a difference. He will have been a very happy coach after this game.
Yes, they scored five tries, one from a bit of forward grunt and four with a bit of panache, but, despite enjoying 68 per cent possession in the first half, it took 38 minutes to get the scoring spree going.
They started brightly enough, but it only lasted about five minutes as the side failed to take a couple of halfchances. Then it was 33 minutes of pretty stodgy stalemate before they finished the half with a flourish, Ali Price, pictured, crossing in the corner before Finn Russell showed his creativity in laying on a score for Tim Visser.
“There are obviously things to work on, as we knew there would be,” Townsend accepted afterwards. “It was partly about getting adjusted to this level of rugby because some of the players had not played for a while. The conditions also played a part in terms of the fatigue and the stop-start nature of the game, but we didn’t make a handling mistake until the second half so that was great.
“We know there are areas we have to work on, the first being making the most of our opportunities. We have to have a bit more patience when we get in the opposition 22.”
What he will have been particularly pleased about was the way some of his gambles paid off. Coming from Glasgow, he knew those players well but chose to hand starting roles to players he was less familiar with. He was rewarded with an outstanding individual performance from Ben Toolis and a debut Test try for Damien Hoyland, two of the Edinburgh players left in the cold by Vern Cotter, his predecessor.
“It carries on what he has been doing at Edinburgh,” said Townsend of Toolis. “He led the Pro12 stats in terms of lineouts won and lineouts won from the opposition. I felt he worked well in defence and attack.”
As for Hoyland, he played a crucial role in the build-up to Visser’s try and was then put in for his own late in the game. “I can’t describe it, I don’t think there is a better feeling,” he enthused later. “I was so chuffed and obviously pleased we finished with a really good win. It’s an unbelievable feeling, I’m just really glad to be here. “I’m pretty happy with my performance. There was one atrocious kick in the first half but, other than that, I felt good. I felt comfortable in defence and tried to get involved as much as possible. I maybe didn’t get the ball in as much space as I would have liked, but that will come.”
For Toolis, redemption had come after two years of being ignored after coming on for his Test debut against Italy in the Six Nations two years ago, being sinbinned eight minutes later and out of the picture when Italy were awarded a penalty try to win the game. Similarly, Hoyland had been handed his first start on tour last summer, but was taken off after 56 minutes and not seen in national colours again.
What they share is that they went back to the struggles of playing for Edinburgh. Even though Toolis was one of the top forwards in the Guinness Pro12, joining Tommy Seymour as the only Scots in the tournament dream team, and Hoyland managed nine tries in the season, it is always hard to impress in a struggling side.
Townsend had the sense to ignore the wider issues at Edinburgh, pick the performing players and got the reward. “You never know what is going on in a coach’s head, but I feel I’m able to perform at this level,” Hoyland added. “I think I’ve got a lot more to give and I just hope I get more opportunities to be able to show that.
“I think I’ve come on a lot in the last year. There were things I needed to work on and I worked really hard at them. I think it is starting to show and that my defence is a lot better now than it was last year.”
The one thing that Townsend will be hoping is that in cooler conditions in Sydney, they will be able to maintain the tempo more effectively than they could in Singapore’s humid heat.
“We knew that it would be difficult to play at that tempo in these conditions,” Townsend admitted. “I felt we did really well at the beginning, we executed well and the shape in attack was just as we had trained.
“It didn’t always work, but in the second half I felt we played with more ambition, especially in the first 10 to 15 minutes. We attacked more and looked for offloads. The players didn’t just believe in what they were doing, but also looked to push things a bit further and take on Italy from a bit deeper.”