Gregor Townsend breaks silence on his Scotland future

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend indicated he has no intention of stepping down as he reflected on a second consecutive fourth-placed finish in the Guinness Six Nations.

The 51-year-old is contracted until April next year but his ability to take the team any further forward after almost eight years at the helm is under scrutiny following a campaign defined by defeats to Ireland, England and France.

When quizzed about his future in the wake of Saturday’s 35-16 loss in Paris, Townsend did not seem like a man planning an exit as he spoke of the “encouragement” he had taken from the performances at Twickenham and Stade de France in particular.

“No, not at all,” he said when asked if he had any inclination to walk away. “It wouldn’t be the right thing to do anyway. I still feel a massive privilege being in this role. It gives me a big purpose in my life.

“You need time to reflect after tournaments because I know what I’m like. I’m really proud of the performance (against France), but as soon as I start watching the video again, I’ll be down for a few days.

“My initial feeling is that what we’re asking our team to go and deliver, they did it in really tough circumstances and tough environments and that’s the basis of a team that can kick on. I’m encouraged by the displays and by the players that are coming through.”

Reflecting on a tournament in which Scotland’s only victories came at home to Italy and Wales, Townsend said: “There’s a bit of disappointment there. The big disappointment was the Ireland game (a 32-18 defeat).

“The other performances were very good and even the two away defeats, the way the players played at Twickenham and Paris, those were some of the best performances I believe a Scotland team has put in in those two venues.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t finish higher in the championship but we had really good results and really good performances too. We’re certainly encouraged by the last three performances.”

Townsend believes the fact his team finished fourth is testament to “the quality of the competition”.

“No team can play well for five games and no team has not lost a game this year,” he said. “Last year Ireland lost against England, this year France lost against England. Our game that we didn’t play at our highest level was Ireland.

“I know we didn’t win against England but it was still a very good performance. It shows we’re close to those teams. France have had an amazing tournament and have blown teams away and had a big win away to Ireland, and (in Paris on Saturday) we went toe to toe with them.”

Scotland’s next assignment is a summer tour of the Pacific Islands and New Zealand, where they will play the Maori All Blacks. Townsend hopes there will be several key players missing due to British and Irish Lions involvement.

“We chatted to (Lions coach) Andy Farrell after the England game and he liked the way we played down there,” he said. “If we do have a few players in the Lions, that’s a good thing for our depth.

“Last year we took a lot of younger players on our summer tour. We’ll be taking a strong squad this year but let’s hope we’re missing a few and we can take a few young guys.”