Under-Fire Gregor Townsend insists he has no plans to fall on his sword despite another Scotland Six Nations shambles.
Calls for the head coach to go grew louder following an 18-15 defeat to Italy in Rome that saw Scotland lose their opening game in this competition for the first time since 2020.
On the back of a wretched autumn international series and speculation that he will join Newcastle Red Bulls after next year’s World Cup, it looks like Townsend has run out of road and goodwill.
But with England due at Murrayfield next weekend, the former fly-half vowed to carry on and said quitting hadn’t crossed his mind.
Asked if he still expects to be in charge for that Calcutta Cup clash, Townsend said: ‘Well, I want to be and that’s my job. That’s what I’m focused on.
‘Do I want to stay on? Absolutely. We’ve got a game in seven days’ time. We’ve got a game to review, a selection to be put together, and how we improve on today is all we’re thinking about as a coaching group.
Gregor Townsend refused to entertain speculation over his future after the defeat in Rome
Jack Dempsey is disconsolate as the Italian celebrations kick off in earnest at Stadio Olimpico
Tommaso Menoncello is hailed by his jubilant Italian team-mates after scoring their second try
‘Criticism is par for the course if you’re a coach. No one’s more disappointed than me and the players. It’s very tough when you lose but when you’ve got a game around the corner, your focus has to be on that.
‘How do we make sure we put in a training session, a team that goes out there and gives our supporters a victory. That’s all we’re motivated by. We didn’t get it today, but the focus will be quickly on England.’
Townsend tersely denied that the speculation over a possible move to Newcastle hadn’t had a negative effect in the build-up and hadn’t been a distraction, answering only ‘no’ to both questions.
His team was always up against it after losing two early tries to Louis Lynagh and Tommaso Menoncello. Scotland came back into it with scores in each half from Jack Dempsey and George Horne but a first-half Paolo Garbisi penalty would ultimately prove to be the difference as a monsoon descended.
Townsend added: ‘I felt the intent was there and a lot of our build-up play was good. But in that first 20 minutes we only scored that one try.
‘We should have been better and after that it became a totally different game. The performance in the second half put Italy under pressure. We were in a really promising situation when we got to five metres from the line and were awarded a couple of penalties and then it was reversed with the yellow card to George Turner.
‘I felt during the yellow card period the players found solutions. We were in control but that wasn’t good enough and we were behind on the scoreboard.’
Zander Fagerson looks up at the scoreboard in disbelief as Scotland sink to an opening defeat
Sione Tuipulotu admitted the loss was a huge setback at the start of another campaign.
The Scotland captain said: ‘We’re gutted in there. We prepared really well but we didn’t transfer it onto the field and didn’t adjust to the conditions well enough. And we’re on the losing side.
‘It’s a tough pill to swallow and we’re going to have to tackle that over the next couple of days. There’s no point saying it’s not a setback because to lose in this competition is a big deal.
‘It’s a tough job to raise morale after a pretty gutting loss. But it’s what you have to do because it’s the start of the championship. If we’re going to drop our heads, it’s only going to get worse from here. We’ve got to rally together and stay tight as a training group.
‘I’m not going to hide my emotions. I’m gutted because I didn’t mean to come here to lose and we definitely didn’t prepare to lose out there today. But ultimately that’s happened and we’re going to have to try to bounce back pretty quickly because we’ve got a good team coming to Murrayfield next week.’
