EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Gregor Townsend is not one to gloat when he so easily could.
Exactly a month ago, his Scotland started the Six Nations with a dull loss to Italy in the Roman rain. His 10-season tenure was already under intense scrutiny after a miserable autumn test series.
Now the coach has Scotland the closest it’s ever been to the Six Nations crown since it won the last Five Nations in 1999.
Impressive wins over England and Wales were upstaged by a mind-blowing 50-40 win over Grand Slam-pursuer France at Murrayfield on Saturday. It was Scotland’s highest score against France in 116 years of matchups.
France was prevented from clinching the title while Scotland rose into a tie on points with France at the top of the table going into the final round next Saturday. Scotland head to Ireland, also in title contention, while France close against England in Paris.
The odds still favor France retaining the title but Scotland’s rebound from the Italy defeat with three straight wins for the first time since 2020 has awed all comers.
“It was a brilliant day, brilliant day for our supporters,” Townsend told the BBC. “Not just the rugby we played but the mindset to keep attacking.”
He believed painful moments and defeats were needed in a team’s evolution.
“Italy is part of the journey,” he said. “I believed in the team. Our game is built to put some of our best strike players in the game into space and they built phase after phase and grew in confidence.”
Captain Sione Tupulotu was grateful that they could win for Townsend and take some pressure off their coach.
“We stuck together after a tough first round and tough autumn and have now given ourselves one more job to do next week,” Tuipulotu said. “It’s something a Scotland team hasn’t done before (in the Six Nations era), going into the last week with everything to play for.
“I couldn’t be happier for him (Townsend). We have rallied behind our coach since the start of the tournament.”
The victory was marred only by the sight of player of the match Kyle Steyn being carted off with a gashed right thigh. But Steyn was confident afterward he would be available to play Ireland.
France coach Fabien Galthié praised Scotland, especially centers Tuipulotu and Huw Jones, but was confident his side will keep the crown. France lost to Scotland for the sixth time on Townsend’s watch.
“It is not surprising for the Scots to win this match. They played great,” Galthié said. “They taught us in the basics of rugby.
“We’re still first. We have the possibility to win the competition. That’s the truth.
“We wanted to do much better (today). We were very ambitious. We understand the disappointment of our fans. We share it. But we’re in a race to win the competition. We have a game in Paris. Saturday night at the Stade de France. It’s our daily life. We know we have to go through this.”
___
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
