There comes a point in the tenure of any under-fire head coach when defiance eventually turns into delusion and deflection.
They lose their grip on reality. They wheel out excuse after excuse. They grab a big shovel and don’t know when to stop digging. They start talking gibberish, psychobabble, and tie themselves in knots.
We don’t have to look far to find examples of this. Only a few weeks ago, Brendan Rodgers was, disparagingly, comparing his Celtic players to a Honda Civic.
At Rangers, Russell Martin refused to acknowledge his own tactical failings and instead chose to highlight an ‘anxiety’ in his squad. The solution? To take them open-water swimming at Loch Lomond.
When he was in charge of the Australian rugby team a couple of years ago, Eddie Jones took aim at the media during one of many bizarre and incoherent rants, blaming journalists and ‘negative coverage’ for poor results.
Some of the quotes from these coaches and managers become memorable for all the wrong reasons. Listening to Gregor Townsend on Friday, it felt like that point has now been reached.
Gregor Townsend was defiant on Friday when asked about his future as Scotland head coach
After his Scotland team were booed off at Murrayfield on the back of last weekend’s capitulation against Argentina, where they blew a 21-point lead, Townsend made an astonishing claim ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Tonga.
Grilled on the lack of progress under his leadership and why his team are repeatedly making the same mistakes, he claimed: ‘Look, I disagree with that.
‘The supporters are coming out in huge numbers. We actually had a spike [in ticket sales] after the game last weekend and I don’t think they were all from Tonga [fans] buying tickets.
‘That’s great to know that the atmosphere that was created in the New Zealand game, the atmosphere when we scored and Flower of Scotland was ringing out, the supporters are behind the team.
‘They’re obviously very disappointed we didn’t win – like we are. There are momentum swings in every game. There’s a lot of teams now that are capable of beating each other in the top ten in the world.
‘There’s moments where you have to be better at getting that momentum back. We didn’t do that well enough at the weekend.
‘But the weekend before we were 17-0 down against New Zealand, and showed absolute resilience and skill and fitness to get back to 17-17. I’m sure you agree, we should have gone and won that game.’
They lost 25-17.
Over the past two years, Townsend’s Scots have fallen from fifth to ninth in the world rankings
Townsend added: ‘There are going to be times when we don’t get it right, and the last 20 minutes [against Argentina] was definitely one of those occasions.
‘I can’t speak for other people, but that’s certainly not the acceptance [of losing these games] in our group. We do all we can to win, and all we can to put our best performance out there.
‘We have no right to beat every team in the world. Whether that’s going into a game and the opposition playing well, or the strengths of the opposition, but we believe we can.’
Townsend was defiant on Friday when asked about his future. He remains fully committed to seeing out the remainder of his contract, which runs until the next World Cup in 2027.
Over the past two years, however, Scotland have fallen from fifth to ninth in the world rankings. They have also won only two matches in each of the past two Six Nations campaigns.
They have developed a heinous capacity for self-sabotage.
And yet Townsend doubled down on his belief yesterday that there is no mental fragility in his squad.
Townsend has doubled down on his belief that there is no mental fragility in his squad
‘I would disagree, I wouldn’t say routinely [this team suffers a meltdown],’ he insisted. ‘It happens for a lot of teams as well, but I know what you’re saying.
‘That’s sport. If there’s a team that goes through, wins every game, and doesn’t lose momentum at certain points, then I’m not watching the same sport as everybody else.
‘I was obviously pretty down after Sunday night, we all were. But it’s been such a busy week and a week to really properly coach and connect with players.
‘This job is not just about winning and enjoying the wins. It’s about dealing with the defeats and whether that can make you stronger or not. I believe it will.
‘I know these are just words for you, but I’ve been really pleased with how the players have acted in training this week.’
It has been a dismal period for Townsend, but Scotland will almost certainly beat Tonga with something to spare on Sunday.
Zander Fagerson returns to make his first appearance in seven months following a lengthy injury-layoff.
Fagerson will be part of an experienced front row alongside fellow Glasgow prop Rory Sutherland and Harlequins hooker George Turner, who will win his 50th cap.
Townsend has made 14 changes from the team that played against Argentina, with only captain Sione Tuipulotu keeping his place.
Scotland hit a new low during autumn series when they blew a 21-point lead in defeat to Argentina at Murrayfield
‘Tonga will be very physical,’ said Townsend. ‘It is a huge opportunity for them. I think the weather’s not going to be great, so I’d imagine it’ll be a lot of set-piece, a lot of how you deal with the defensive side of it.
‘They’ve had a hit-out against our emerging team on Monday, and I think that’ll be of benefit to them. We are expecting a big challenge.
‘With Zander, he’s trained two weeks now, so he seems ready. We train pretty full-on, so he’s had scrums this week, we’ve had a lot of live tackling.
‘He was good the previous week, obviously we didn’t want to take any risk with him on the back of one full week’s training, but now he’s had two weeks’ training, he should be good to go.’
‘We had a very honest review of last week, some of it was painful, I’m sure. We reflect on what we could have done better.
‘I reflect on what I could have done better during the game, during the week.
‘Not getting the best of the players – when we look at the final 25 minutes, of course that’s what we have to address.
‘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.
‘But I do believe we’ve seen the best of the players throughout this campaign, up until the last 25 minutes.’
