After a devastating home loss to Argentina, Gregor Townsend is facing mounting pressure to step down as the head coach of Scotland’s rugby team. The match, held at Murrayfield, ended with a chorus of boos from disillusioned fans who had expected a different outcome.
Initially, Scotland seemed to be on a promising path, leading 21-0, a score that would have bolstered their chances of securing a top seed position for the upcoming World Cup draw. However, the tide turned dramatically when Finn Russell’s errant pass set off a remarkable Argentinian comeback. The Pumas capitalized on this mistake, scoring five tries in the final 23 minutes, ultimately clinching a 33-24 victory.
The discontent among the Murrayfield crowd was palpable, their frustration evident as they voiced their disappointment at the final whistle. This defeat adds to a string of underwhelming performances, including a recent failure to close out a match against the formidable All Blacks.
Even prior to this collapse, voices like that of former Scotland prop Peter Wright had already suggested that it might be time for Townsend to step aside. The pressure is now on the coach to address these concerns and turn the team’s fortunes around.
It was another poor performance from Scotland after last week’s failure to get over the line against the All Blacks.
Even before this surrender, former Scotland prop Peter Wright had said it was time for Townsend to go.
Townsend gathers his thoughts after watching Scotland blow a 21-0 lead against Argentina
Sione Tuipulotu said the players and staff needed to take a long, hard look at themselves
Argentina celebrate a thrilling Murrayfield win that arrived courtesy of five second-half tries
‘To be competitive in the World Cup, you have to beat the likes of New Zealand or South Africa,’ he told the BBC just before kick-off.
‘Is Gregor [Townsend] the guy? I don’t think he is. I think he’s run his course.
‘We have a guy in the background who could take us to that next stage, (Glasgow Warriors head coach) Franco Smith.’
In the wake of a defeat described by former Scotland captain John Barclay as a ‘disaster’, supporters left Scottish Rugby in no doubt they should sack the head coach.
Townsend denied his team were mentally weak but admitted the second-half collapse caught him by surprise.
‘I definitely didn’t see that coming,’ he said. ‘The things we talked about at half-time were to be composed and be patient to get more opportunities in the 22.
‘I don’t think there’s a mental fragility there. But I think it’s being able to handle situations as they come and collectively and individually we have to do better.
‘It was a lot more disappointing this week than last week.’
Scotland skipper Sione Tuipulotu conceded the players and management need to take a hard look at themselves after losing the last big match of the year.
Asked if the booing at the end was fair, the Glasgow centre said: ‘I think so, yeah. Gregor has spoken in the changing room about it being back-to-back home sell-outs and not every stadium does that.
‘So, there’s a little bit of guilt there because people pay good money to come watch us. And I think we need to cop this one as a playing group especially and put our hands up and say that’s not good enough.
‘That feeling that we felt after the final whistle last week was a hard feeling to take. And this one’s worse for us because we talked about all the things that we were going to do.
‘We got up 21 points but lost our composure. And in the huddle afterwards I mentioned to the boys that as players – myself included as the captain – we’re going to have to take a good hard look at ourselves because it’s not a good enough performance from us.
‘We were executing the game plan, we were 21 points up, and then we lacked accuracy and composure when it was needed. If we score one more try after going 21 points up then I think the floodgates could have opened from there.
‘We were playing some good rugby but we didn’t do that until the end. And, to be honest, we deserve to probably cop it a little bit as a playing group.’
Scotland conceded 10 penalties and had Blair Kinghorn yellow-carded just ahead of the first Argentina try, with Tuipulotu admitting their discipline was lacking.
He added: ‘I thought we started the game well and even came out in the second half and won that first exchange. We were in their 22, were 21 points up and turned the ball over. And then after that we lost our composure, didn’t we?
‘It was an avalanche of penalties as well. We piggy-backed them time and time again, we got a yellow card, allowed them to run out of their own half and didn’t touch the ball for large parts of that second half because our discipline was so bad.
‘I think it just came down to a lack of composure under a little bit of adversity there. We’d given away penalties and we couldn’t stem the flow and that’s on us as players.’
