GREGOR Townsend believes that Scotland are ready to back-up yesterday’s Calcutta Cup success by winning in Cardiff next weekend. His team failed to build on their opening weekend win over England at Twickenham during last year’s Six Nations when they came a cropper against Wales at Murrayfield – but the coach insisted that there is no psychological baggage lurking within his squad as a consequence of that set-back. 

He also believes that his team have matured into a side better equipped to dealing with adversity than they were 12-months ago. 

“Every game is different,” Townsend insisted. “Last year we started really well, and that showed the confidence the players had from their win at Twickenham. We were 17-3 up so how we prepared last year was fine.  

“It was just how we dealt with situations like not scoring a try in the Wales 22 at the end of the first half and giving away three penalties in a row to hand momentum back to Wales. Then, in the second half, not dealing with the red card when we needed to adjust.  

“I’m sure there are things next week we’ll have to adapt and adjust to, but I feel this team is much better at that,” he continued, before pointing out that the crucial penalty try Scotland scored yesterday was a consequence of the team finding a way to make the most of scrappy scrum ball 

“That was something that hadn’t really gone the way we wanted it to go but we adapted to where the space,” he reasoned. “Confidence and belief is important, it gives you the ability to adapt and show character, but we have to deliver the detail as well. We can be better than this week, and we believe Wales will be better than they showed this week.” 

The big positive as far as Townsend is concerned is that Scotland know there is scope for improvement despite the result. His side have gone from being masters playing exciting rugby and coming up short, to experts at finding a way to win ugly, with a new-found passion for defence the key to that.   

“Being tough to beat is really important, it usually defines championship-winning teams … a strong defence in any sport,” he said. “We have set really good standards over the past couple of seasons and the players now enjoy defending.  

“But defence is all about getting the ball back,” he added. “Getting it back in terms of turnovers or penalties or getting it back in terms of kicks. So, we know our defence is really entwined with our attack, and we’ve got some really dangerous attackers in our team who we want to give the ball to.  

“We want to give them a framework to play, and one in which they are encouraged to play. Getting both of those sides of the game right is so important. But defence certainly helps you win those tight games.” 

Finn Russell yesterday was perhaps the best demonstration of this more balanced approach, with the stand-off producing one of his most controlled performances in a Scotland jersey but still managing to produce some moments of match-turning magic, such as the two inch-perfect cross-kicks which led to Scotland’s second half penalty try. 

“I thought he had an outstanding game today,” said Townsend. “He had a couple of really good kicks in the first half into the bottom right corner. His attacking kicks for Duhan and Darcy were obviously very accurate, and his goalkicking was excellent. He’s been practising that a lot at his club even though he’s not kicking all that often for Racing.  

“But I felt he managed the game too, there was a lot of pressure on him in terms of line-speed from the opposition, but he was picking the right player to pass to. The last 10 to 15 minutes were our best attacking sequences and Finn was at the heart of that. That’s saying something when you see the weather conditions, because that’s when they were the worst of the game. That was one of his best performances for Scotland, really pleasing.” 

The one real set-back from yesterday’s match relates to the injury suffered by Jamie Ritchie midway through the second half. Having come into the championship in the unusual position of having all his front-line players available, Townsend is expecting to be without blindside flanker next week and likely for longer. 

“It’s not looking great for Jamie just now – when you’re on crutches and struggling to walk, it’s not great – it seems to be the hamstring and groin area,” he revealed. “From what I could tell, the motion he made attempting to compete for the ball, he sort of did the splits. 

“So, yeah, he’s in a bit of pain. I wouldn’t expect him to be available next week. But from what I hear, everyone else seems to be okay.”