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Scotland’s away-day misery continues but coach Gregor Townsend was keen to play up the positives in the wake of this 19-12 loss to an Ireland team who look a shadow of the formidable force they were a couple of years ago in the days when they defeated the All Blacks twice.
With a huge Calcutta Cup clash looming at BT Murrayfield on Saturday, it would be counter-productive to stick the boot into players who showed no lack of effort, some flashes of excellence but came up short on the road once again.
The haunting howler by captain stuart hogg was a critical moment, of course, but it was a match the Scots were always chasing from the moment home skipper Johnny Sexton burst over to overturn Adam Hastings early penalty.
One thing is for sure, though, it was a vast improvement on the 27-3 thumping by the same opposition at the World Cup. It could hardly have got any worse than that, though.
“There were a lot of encouraging signs of what you need to do to win Test matches, and we know that England are a very physical side, too, so the fundamentals of the game will have to be there next week,” said Townsend.
Positivity and optimism is always a good thing but there must, and surely will, be honest conversations and work put in back at the Oriam training base this week on the glaring failings that lay behind the defeat.
To have the Irish under pressure in their own 22 countless times and not manage to finish off once, barring Hogg’s one that got away, when he spilled the ball over the try line as he went to touch down, is simply not good enough.
The number of penalties conceded, although the visitors didn’t get much help from French referee Mathieu Raynal, also needs to be addressed.
“It will be great to be back home,” said Townsend, pictured inset, as he looked ahead to Saturday’s attempt to keep the Calcutta Cup in Scotland for a third year following the 25-13 win of 2018 and 38-38 draw almost 12 months ago.
“We’ve got a seven-day turnaround and I don’t think there are any major injuries so recovery is important and what we do in the week to improve, what we have learned as a coaching group and players, and how we apply that will be a huge challenge.
“England are obviously one of the best teams in the world and we’ve got to be better next week to win.
“I had a really good feeling going into the [Ireland] game based on the way we trained. You get a feel for their togetherness and the general quality of the training and whether they are taking on board information and applying that, and also how much they are talking in the meetings – so through all that I felt really confident in what they could do.
“You never know what the opposition is going to bring and how the game is going to unfold, but if they carry on with that application and togetherness, we will be a better team through the championship and very tough to play against.”
Scotland made a terrible start against the Irish in Japan but took it to them this time and, at least, stayed in the fight to the end.
“We haven’t been that great away from home, as you know, and often that has been in the first 20 minutes, so the focus was that we must have to be better and we did that really well,” added Townsend.
“We have some very good players who are going to get confidence from playing Test match rugby, playing together we have to make sure we produce better performances in the remaining four games.”
On the disciplinary issue, Townsend added: “There was a couple of occasions at the breakdown… but I didn’t think we got the rub of the green in that area. Players not supporting their own body weight, not releasing in the tackle, players on their knees, things that we got penalised for. That happens in a game and you don’t get penalties around the breakdown.
“We still had enough opportunities to win the game or at least draw. Fifteen penalties is too many [to concede] to win at a place like the Aviva.”
A loss is a loss is a loss, of course, and asked about the mood in the dressing room after full-time, Townsend reported: “They were disappointed and felt they were the better team at times and closing Ireland. They had a lot of problems with ball in hand, a lot of problems with our scrummaging. Like us as coaches we are 50 per cent encouraged by the performance that can be built on and 50 per cent knowing we won’t be back here for two years.
“If you play with that intensity, in the fight and have opportunities, you need to do more to win the game.”