Gregor Townsend is adamant Scotland are equipped to go toe-to-toe with any side they encounter at the upcoming World Cup after giving formidable France another fright on Saturday.
The Scots lost 30-27 to Les Bleus in front of a partisan home support in stifling Saint-Etienne heat, a week after they defeated Fabien Galthie’s side 25-21 at Murrayfield.
Both of those warm-up matches involved rousing fightbacks from Townsend’s team, as was also the case in their Six Nations meeting in Paris in February when the visitors recovered from 19-0 down to close within four points of their hosts before a late French try secured a 32-21 win.
Given France are ranked second in the world and joint-favourites alongside New Zealand to win the tournament on home soil this autumn, the way Scotland have competed against Les Bleus this year has enhanced their head coach’s belief that his team are ready to vie for qualification from a heavyweight World Cup pool that also includes world champions South Africa and the world’s top-ranked side, Ireland.
“We’re fit enough, we’ve got the game and we’ve got the players to take on any team we come up against, and this was a preparation for what is likely to happen in the World Cup: noisy atmospheres, powerful forwards, especially when we play South Africa, and hot conditions,” said Townsend.
“Our players thrived in that environment. There were elements where we can improve and that will come, and it has come because we’ve seen improvement right throughout the season.
“Our belief has been shaken at times in games, but against France the belief was there. Whether it was as individuals or collectively, we knew we were coming back.
We know if that was a World Cup match we’d be sitting here absolutely gutted, but it is a build-up to the World Cup so there are lots of positives out of that performance— Gregor Townsend
“It is a big disappointment that we didn’t get anything out of that game whether it is a draw or a win.
“We know if that was a World Cup match we’d be sitting here absolutely gutted, but it is a build-up to the World Cup so there are lots of positives out of that performance.”
Scotland made a strong start to lead 10-6 at the half-hour mark and then staged a stunning fightback from 27-10 down to level the match at 27-27 before Thomas Ramos – who kicked 15 of France’s points – sealed a narrow win with a late penalty.
On a night when the visitors outscored their hosts by four tries to three, Scotland were effectively left to rue a 29th minute yellow card for Ali Price and a disastrous start to the second half as the French ran in two tries within four minutes of the restart.
“That’s one way to look at it,” said Townsend when asked how he can eliminate such costly phases of drop-off from Scotland. “The other way to look at it is these top teams are going to have their moments and they are going to score points.
“A lot of what happened in that five minutes after half-time was down to our errors, we were unable to gather a pass from the kick off and gave France some dominance in our 22.
“We’ll look at all the game. I think we could have done more in the first 15-20 minutes when we were playing so well. There was some opportunities there that we could have taken with a bit more ambition and accuracy.
“The period when we were a man down was really good defensively, but I feel we could have done better when we had ball. And the final quarter when we came back, there is maybe not much to improve there because there was some outstanding play, but it would have been nice to have a chance with that line-out at the end and there was that scrum where France won the penalty.
“So there is always areas to improve, but I am so proud of not just the effort but that resilience and collective belief the players have built over the last few weeks and last few months.
“This team will not be beaten. We’ll keep going and we’re a very dangerous team to play against, and we believe the more time we spend together the more accurate we’ll get.”
Townsend feels spoiled for choice as he prepares to trim his 37-man training squad to 33 for the World Cup, with the announcement to be made this Wednesday.
The head coach was encouraged that he was able to make six changes to the starting XV from the Murrayfield victory over the French and still send out a team strong enough to challenge Les Bleus on their own patch.
The strength in depth at Townsend’s disposal was highlighted by the fact Kyle Steyn, who is generally a substitute when fellow wings Darcy Graham and Duhan Van Der Merwe are fit, chipped in with two of the Scots’ tries. The others came from Van Der Merwe and Rory Darge.
“The bench is worth commenting on,” said Townsend. “The depth we have in our squad means we can mix things up at times, rest players or bring players in because of form or because they are suited to a certain game, Kyle Steyn being a good example.
“In the last three games now the bench has made a real change in our energy, helped take the game to the opposition, so it is encouraging that the 23 is being utilised and helping us play better at the end of games, and the final quarter is probably the most important time in a game to play well.
“There will be a difficult selection coming up with the squad, but also when we have to pick our 23-man squad game to game.”
