'I'm here to address anything' - Townsend responds to critics

Autumn Series Test: Scotland v Tonga

Venue: Scottish Gas Murrayfield, Edinburgh Date: Sunday, 23 November Kick-off: 13:40 GMT

Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland Extra & Sounds, listen on the BBC Sport website and app

Gregor Townsend walked in the room with a warmth that contrasted with the frostiness in front of him. Outside the walls of the interview room at Oriam in Edinburgh the ice was setting in. Inside, it was a touch chilly too.

"I'm here to address anything," said the Scotland head coach at one point, which, as it turned out, didn't include much about Tonga on Sunday, his team's final opponent of a four-Test autumn that's been dominated by a massive missed opportunity against the vulnerable New Zealand and a desperate implosion, from 21-0 up, against Argentina. Tonga, frankly, took a back seat.

Townsend has lost two big games this autumn, he has won two games out of five in three of the past four Six Nations and has been emptied from back-to-back World Cups at the pool stage, scoring three points against the Springboks in the 2023 tournament that culminated in a loss to Ireland when their opponents raced into a 36-0 lead.

There's been a number of big wins, but not the kind of progress that has made Scotland contenders to win anything. Despite having a good squad, there's only been fleeting periods in eight years when it felt like Scotland were going places.

There was booing at Murrayfield on Sunday, a huge rarity. So, after more than eight years in the job has the time now come to accept that he's been there for long enough?

"That's your opinion," he replied. Townsend was measured and polite, as ever, but the questions were hot and heavy. It was tense in that room.

"I've seen the team play the best rugby it's played in the eight years over the last two or three weeks," he argued. "Now, we're very disappointed we didn't get a win against New Zealand and Argentina.

"We created enough against New Zealand and we were 21-0 up against Argentina. To get in those positions, to be 21-0 up, the team is delivering up to that point."

'Up to that point' being the key caveat. Games don't last as long as Scotland want them to, sadly. They don't end after a razor-sharp opening spell against the Pumas or when Scotland have clawed back a horrendous start to make it 17-17 against the All Blacks.

Did he get the message from the home crowd when they booed on full-time?

"Yeah, we sensed the disappointment in the crowd, it was like an exhale of disappointment," he said.

That's a new way of putting it. No, it was definitely booing.

"We all felt it and nobody's hurting as much as us as a group," Townsend said. "But sometimes, in those real painful moments as a group that you live through, you come through stronger."

'We've seen best of players this campaign'

Townsend said his determination to drive on in the job is undiminished. "Yes, even more so," he answered when asked if he had the stomach for the fight despite all the kicks in teeth.

"Maybe you don't believe me, but this week it was really important. I felt something different in our review about the way the players came together with the coaches. It's painful. Sunday night was painful.

"Going through that last 20 minutes on Monday is painful, but the failures and how you respond to them make you the team you can be. I've been really encouraged on how that's played out through this week.

"It's been a big week of meetings, honesty, a real deep dive on how we could be better in that final 20-25 minutes (against the Pumas when they capitulated and lost a game they had done so much early on to win).

"But I do believe we've seen the best of the players throughout this campaign, up until the last 25 minutes. The New Zealand performance, to be 21-0 up against Argentina and be on the tryline in the 53rd minute to go further ahead - that's probably as much as we can expect from the team, up until that point."

It was a revisiting of an earlier theme - Scotland can be outstanding for pockets of games but too often they don't have the mental strength to see these games through. They have shown psychological weakness many times in recent years and it's all getting tiresome to at least a section of those watching. Most probably, a large section and growing all the while.

This team routinely has meltdowns, it was put to him. "I would disagree," he replied. "I wouldn't say routinely. The last 20 minutes wasn't good enough, but the performance levels have been at a high level now over the last few weeks.

"In terms of performances, I'm seeing enough out of this team to back up what I said three or four weeks ago."

Three or four weeks ago, when talking to BBC Scotland, Townsend said his squad was in the best place it has ever been in on his watch. In terms of Test experience, player depth chart, the power game, players winning things with their clubs and the huge number of Scots who saw game time with the British and Irish Lions in Australia in the summer, the future had been not as bright in his eight years, he argued.

And he still believes it, despite defeats and the booing and the clear signs that when the chips are down in games Scotland tighten up and become error-prone and easy meat. Haven't the fans seen enough?

"Look, I disagree with that," he said. "The supporters are coming out in huge numbers. We've actually had a spike after the game at the weekend and I don't think they were all from Tonga buying tickets."

Scots 'can take on best in world'

A spike for Tonga? If that's true, it's a curious response to a soul-destroying defeat by Argentina. Scottish rugby fans really must be gluttons for punishment.

"It's great to know that the atmosphere that was created in the New Zealand game and the atmosphere when Argentina scored and Flower of Scotland was ringing out - the supporters are behind the team," Townsend explained. "They're very disappointed that we didn't win, like we are.

"We have no right to beat every team in the world - but we believe we can. Our supporters and our players can expect, with what we have here, that we can take on the best teams in the world."

Scotland can take on the best in the world for passages of games for sure, but their win record against teams sitting above them in the rankings has been dismal for an age. They are currently ninth in the world having been fifth just before the start of the last World Cup. They are falling away in terms of winning games (as opposed to Townsend's mantra of being competitive).

How does he explain the drop-offs, the moments in time that saw New Zealand and Argentina win, the passages in recent seasons that saw Italy roaring back from a big deficit and beating Scotland and that saw Wales, in 2024 and 2025, scare the life out of Townsend's team despite being miles behind on the scoreboard?

"That's rugby, that's sport," is his response. "Look at New Zealand. During 20-30 minutes against us they didn't hardly touch the ball. Argentina were 21-0 down.

"So that happens to the best teams. What we need to do is when that momentum does start to go in the favour of the opposition, we have to find ways to get it back."

How long can he keep banging that drum, though? Yes, New Zealand were outplayed by Scotland for a stretch and, yes again, Argentina were routed early on. Both of them still won, which is really all that matters. That winning mentality still eludes Scotland despite all the years Townsend has had to instil it. There's still a softness that's ruinous.

Is he expecting a review of his own performance at the end of the autumn? "I don't know," he said. "We review every campaign, but you'd have to ask someone else on that."

Questions have been asked, but there's been no answers from Murrayfield as yet, just as there is little sign that Scotland are anywhere closer to becoming the kind of ruthless team they need to be. Townsend thinks otherwise. It's a grim impasse.