The Daily Telegraph - Sport

Townsend blames poor execution for Scottish let-down

- By Richard Bath at Murrayfiel­d

The more Gregor Townsend reflects on his side’s 22-13 defeat by Ireland, the more convinced the Scotland coach is that his side let slip a golden opportunit­y to inflict a second successive defeat on the visitors and gain an advantage ahead of their World Cup meeting.

After a first half in which Scotland had 70 per cent of territory and should have led rather than trailed 12-10, Scotland’s second-half performanc­e was as poor as their first had been impressive. Individual errors, a malfunctio­ning setconor

piece and curious refereeing decisions conspired to allow Ireland to ease to a comfortabl­e win.

“This loss was really about our execution,” said the Scotland coach. “If we get our set-piece play into the game then you can build so many things off it, especially as we were working really well in the contact areas and recycling the ball well. But there were three or four incidents when we didn’t get past first phase – that might have been through a penalty, a knock-on, a rip out of the tackle, poor execution of a pass or a line-out not being won.

“We didn’t keep putting them under pressure because we couldn’t get to those multiphase facets of the game that we did in the first half.”

That was an analysis shared by Jamie Ritchie. For the Scotland the most frustratin­g element was that an error so often led to another. “Individual errors are people making poor decisions and

I was guilty of it myself,” he said. “Mistakes happen, it’s when you compound those errors that you find yourself in real difficulty.”

Townsend’s frustratio­n was heightened by the fact Scotland did so many things well, although he acknowledg­ed Ireland’s skill in capitalisi­ng on rare defensive errors.

“We didn’t make many defensive mistakes,” said Townsend. “It was bad luck when two players collided into each other [for Ireland’s third try] and good strength from Joey Carbery, and it was a really good set-piece play that Ireland executed really well [for their second try].

“For the other 95 per cent of the game, we were really good in defence, put them under pressure, tackled them behind the gain line and forced a few turnovers. You

 ??  ?? Test: Gregor Townsend has demanded improvemen­t from Scotland in France
Test: Gregor Townsend has demanded improvemen­t from Scotland in France

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