TOWNSEND JNR MAKES HIS DEBUT IN SCOTS DEFEAT
CHRISTIAN TOWNSEND — son of Scotland head coach Gregor — made his debut for the national Under-20s team midway through the second half of yesterday’s Six Nations curtain-raiser in Cardiff, but the teenage playmaker couldn’t inspire his team to a famous comeback victory.
The Scots were already 17 points down by the time Townsend came off the bench, and, having lost flanker Harri Morris to a red card at the start of the second half, it was all about damage limitation at that stage.
He kicked well when he got the chance, and had one jinking run from deep, but Townsend’s main focus was on trying to stop Irish attackers from making the scoreboard even more onesided than it already was.
It was a disappointing outcome for the young Scots, who had probably been the better side in the first half.
However, head coach Sean Lineen refused to blame Scotland’s demise on Morris’s sending-off for taking out Irish full-back Jamie Osborne in the air.
‘It is unfortunate for Harri because he plays hard, but he isn’t dirty, and he’s absolutely gutted,’ said Lineen. ‘He’s a key player for us, so after that it just got harder, but we can’t use that as an excuse.’
The Scots recovered from coughing up a try to Irish flanker Alex Soroka inside three minutes to draw level at the end of the first quarter when stand-off Cameron Scott poked a lovely grubber ahead for Elliot Gourlay to race on to and score.
And they were unlucky to go in seven points down at the break because it was a freak rebound off Osborne’s head which led to Ireland’s second score, which was a penalty try.
After the dismissal of Morris, it was largely oneway traffic for the rest of the game, with tries from Sam Illo, Alex Kendellen, Shane Jennings and Osborne
easing Ireland home.