This team are streets ahead in quality for Townsend
SCOTLAND head coach Gregor Townsend admitted that even when he was part of our national team scoring against France for fun in the last Five Nations Championship triumph, the quality of that side did not match the outfit he now leads.
Townsend has encouraged the same kind of attacking elan that he strived for as Scotland stand-off during his ten-year international career.
And last night he wore the smile of a man who finally knows what it feels like to be in a dressing room of players who have comprehensively beaten a southern hemisphere team.
Asked whether it outshone his own feats as a player, Townsend said: ‘Well, we certainly never came that close to beating Australia when I played, or New Zealand.
‘I think when Scotland play at their best, then it’s a game of speed and high work rate.
‘I was fortunate enough to be involved in a couple of seasons where we played something similar to what the guys showed today.
‘It’s great to watch and I think it suits our players. It takes a special group of players and a special leadership group that drive the standards, and keeps people calm in moments when things test us.
‘Whether it’s injuries like last week (against the All Blacks) or late changes today, or tries against us, they still have the confidence to go out and play.
‘That’s a big factor and it is difficult to coach, so we are fortunate that we have the players who can go out and play well, take the game to the opposition and thrive in the pressure of Test-match rugby.
‘The feeling now is brilliant. If we had lost today, it would have been disappointing given how close we came last week.
‘But we were really working towards a better performance and a lot of the times out there, it was better than last week.
‘There are still a few things to improve, but to come into such a big fixture with some bodies that were tired after the New Zealand game, all that energy, was brilliant to see.
‘We also get the energy from the crowd and BT Murrayfield the last two weeks has been fantastic.
‘It is the best atmosphere in the international game just now and it is great for our players to experience that and thrive off it.’
Townsend revealed that the Scotland coaches were nervous when Australia hauled back the hosts’ early 10-0 lead and also acknowledged that the red card shown to Wallaby tighthead prop Sekope Kepu just before half-time — which forced an Australian debutant onto the pitch with the Wallabies leading 12-10 — was a key moment.
Intriguingly, however, his opposite number, Michael Cheika, insisted that it was nonsense to call it that or even a turning point.
‘I didn’t think it was the story of the game,’ insisted Australia’s head coach.
‘To be honest, I thought we could still have won the game with 14 players.
‘We came back and started the second half very well but we had to keep believing in what we wanted to do — and we didn’t.
‘Instead, we kept throwing the ball away. We had fewer players but if you throw away the ball, that’s what’s going to happen.
‘It’s unfortunate but it was definitely not the red card. That
happens in matches and I don’t think it was a turning point. The referee didn’t have much alternative.
‘But we didn’t have the discipline then to understand that we had to go through phases and keep ball, and then put the opposition under pressure because, at that point, they are then expected to win against 14 men.’
For Scotland, this was a defining victory. They have shown themselves to be able to compete with southern hemisphere sides before, but have lacked the ability and confidence to really put them away.
This was the first time the Scots had scored more than three tries against Australia and the first time they had scored six tries against any Tier-One nation since the Flying Scotsman Ian Smith was claiming a hat-trick in an eight-try win over Wales at Inverleith in 1924.
Townsend added: ‘There has been a lot of positivity around Scottish rugby, and a lot of work gone in, over the last few years.
We are fortunate we have the players who thrive in the pressure of Test match rugby