Scotland head coach Townsend reaction to Ireland defeat
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Gregor Townsend, head coach
On what went wrong:
"Well, we conceded a lot of points in the first half which made it very difficult to win the game.
"I think the early try wasn't really a factor because for the next 15, 20 minutes we put some good rugby together but we didn't have any points on the board. But the tries before half-time, which we will obviously look at (and see) if we could have defended better, but I've got to give credit to Ireland. They executed very well and the game went away from us.
"In the second half, I was really proud of the effort, the display, the intent to not let the score become a bigger one and actually come back and show who we were in attack."
On whether he was disappointed Scotland turned down three kickable penalties when just 5-0 down:
"No. If you saw the scoreline three points wouldn't have helped us. We just needed to convert when we had the opportunities of lineouts, when we got close to their tryline a couple of occasions and we didn't turn that pressure into five or seven points. And we would have needed five or seven points the way Ireland were playing."
On whether he was surprised by anything Ireland did:
"No. They were just very good. I thought they defended really well. At times we were getting half-breaks, making some metres and we had a lot of pressure, went through a lot of phases and they kept their shape, in that first quarter in particular.
"They are the best in the world for a reason. Probably the thing that stands out from an attacking perspective is when you give them entries into the 22 they are very good at coming away with points and they showed that again tonight."
On whether this defeat indicates there is a gap between Scotland and the very best teams in the world:
"Well, obviously it's a very disappointing result. We've gone out of the World Cup playing the number one team in the world and they were well ahead at half-time, but we played the number two team in the opening game and it was a close game.
"No, in isolation, it's a really disappointing defeat against a very good side that we believed we had the ability to defeat but they were the better team tonight. They were excellent, probably the best I've seen them play. It's probably where we are and where they are, in terms of their rankings. I'd imagine now the favourites for the World Cup, certainly one of the two favourites."
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On whether something needs to change in terms of the structures of Scottish rugby to improve the team:
"Yes, we've gone out of the World Cup. I think you've got to look at each World Cup differently. We were drawn with the number one and number two team in the world and we lost to them both.
"We’ve never beaten a team ranked above us in any World Cup we’ve played in, so you may have to go all the way back to 1987 to ask can we do better, and we certainly have to do better, and the responsibility is mine.
"We believed we could get out of this pool. We still believed that after losing to South Africa. The response the players showed in training gave us an opportunity tonight which we didn’t take - Ireland took it - and they are a better team than us on tonight’s performance.
"That’s their 17th win in a row so they have clearly been the better team over the last couple of years. If we can get on the journey they have been over the last few years then great. It’s easy saying that, it’s another thing doing that. We’ve got to make sure that this defeat makes us a better team for the Six Nations and the next World Cup."
On whether Scotland have a lack of depth:
"At a young level that is right [there is not much talent coming through]. But I would say this World Cup has shown we have really good depth in the top 30. We’ve got 33 players here and we made 12 changes between our last two games. The players in this group have shown that they are test quality but we need to get more players through.
"The way Irish rugby is set up they could dominate world rugby for the next five, 10 years. They’re the number one team in the world and they have a pro rugby system that is very strong and they’ve got an age-group system that is very strong.
"We've got to do better. This group of players has got to fifth in the world, which is the best we’ve been in terms of the Scotland national team, but we know we have to make sure that that continues not for the next couple of years but for the next 10 years."
