Townsend: We failed to turn up and paid price
Gregor Townsend has admitted that his Scotland side failed to turn up for their opening game of this World Cup. Scotland were thrashed by Ireland here and were a poor second best to Joe Schmidt’s side in every facet of their Pool A match.
“It was disappointing,” said Townsend. “We didn’t start with the energy, accuracy or aggression required to beat a team like Ireland. They started very well and took their chances when they got into our 22. They’re one of the best teams in the world and, if you give them a 15-20-point start, it’s going to be very difficult to come back.
“They just converted mistakes into territory, mistakes into points directly. They’ve got a template we all know about. If you do give them chances in your third of the field, they often take them. They turned any pressure we had on them on to real pressure on our line.”
A welter of turnovers and errors, including 17 missed tackles to Ireland’s six, meant that all four of Ireland’s tries came directly from mistakes. Unfortunately, three of those tries were in the early stages, meaning that Ireland led 19-3 after 25 minutes, with the game effectively over as a contest.
Asked why Scotland started so poorly, Townsend conceded that he simply did not know. “That’s what we’re asking each other,” he said. “The energy wasn’t there and it certainly wasn’t as high as it has to be to beat a team like Ireland. We just missed the start of that game, that first 20 minutes, which was very disappointing. Credit to Ireland, they started really well and got points on the board.”
On the basis of this performance, the indignity of failing to make it out of arguably the easiest group is no longer a fanciful notion, with tricky matches against Samoa and hosts Japan still to come. After the final whistle, Townsend left the players in no doubt as to his feelings.
“We got what we deserved in the changing room from Gregor,” admitted Ryan Wilson. “We are disappointed in ourselves, he can see that, and the coaching staff feel the same way. We made mistake after mistake – it must be hard to watch.”
As if this defeat was not bad enough, Scotland may face the rest of the tournament without one of their most influential forwards. Playing in his first World Cup match, openside flanker Hamish Watson was carried off just before half-time with what looked like damaged knee ligaments after a clearout from Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong that may yet be the subject of a citing.
“Hamish had a knee injury and we will be hopefully getting more information after the scan,” said Townsend. “It doesn’t look good when a player is stretchered off the field. It would be bad luck for any player if he misses the World Cup, but let’s hope that’s not the case with Hamish. The good news is that Jamie Ritchie will be available for our next game, while Fraser Brown did a great job when he came on.”
However, Watson’s injury had no bearing on Scotland’s comprehensive defeat in the forward battle. And despite only being able to win slow, back-foot ball, they still tried to stick to their expansive game plan, a tactical mistake which backfired badly.
“It felt like slow ball, it’s not often you are standing still waiting on it,” said Stuart Hogg. “We couldn’t get any go forward ball, Ireland just shut us down.”
Scotland’s players know there is only one way to atone this defeat.
“It’s all about reaction. It is pointless saying we’re going to do this, that or whatever,” said Hogg. “We need a reaction and we need it fast. We need to make sure we’re in the right place mentally for Samoa.”