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Townsend makes shock admission about Scotland's halftime team talk
By Ben Spratt
Gregor Townsend believed Scotland had no chance of turning around their Six Nations clash with England before a stunning second half at Twickenham.
The visitors trailed 31-0 in the first half after England made a sensational start, yet Scotland could have won the tie after six tries without reply saw Sam Johnson's score put them in front late on.
There was still time for England to belatedly rally and cross through George Ford to earn a draw, although Scotland retained the Calcutta Cup.
And visiting coach Townsend admitted afterwards that the second-half display from his side was beyond any expectations he had at the break.
"Do you want to talk about the first half or the second half?" Townsend joked to ITV Sport. "We showed a lot of character today. To respond the way we did in the second half, I was more than proud.
"We set a goal of winning the second half - not winning the game. We thought it was gone when you're 31-7 down.
"But it's amazing what can happen in a game of rugby. Momentum can swing and we can get confidence and take the game to the opposition like we did in the second half.
"Ultimately, we're the team that's really disappointed to have drawn the game."
Outlining his half-time team talk, Townsend added: "We talked about winning the second half and coming out with respect. How we did that was to stick with the tactics."
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Latest Comments
Luke Cowan-Dickie i'd assume
Go to commentswe need a damaging 12 that takes 2 men to tackle that will take pressure off the 10 while also creating space for the 10 and 13 . Leicester is the only guy that fits the mould . The next thing is " will he be able to develop a good offload " ? .
for 13 Joey manu has more x factor then reiko and jordie put togeather . he's got one season in japan before he looks to come home . he's a dark horse but his skill set is something the All Blacks don't have . if he comes home and lights up the npc in a game or 2 , id love to see him fast tracked and come off the bench for the All Blacks and thrown into the deep end to see if he can swim . Just to see if he's worth the time and effort to develop further . We all saw how good sualii did for the wallabies and joey manu is just as good as sualii . He's safe under the high ball , a solid defender , has a master offload , and he's fast and strong .
he fits the mould for razor's offload tactics .
Plus reiko and jordie have had the 12 & 13 for how long and I haven't seen anything special from either of them .
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