​Gala’s Gregor Townsend told his job as head coach is safe for now but Scotland national rugby team must do better going forward

​Scotland got the better of Wales and England but lost out to France, Italy and Ireland to finish third from bottom of the championship, one place lower than last year, and McGuigan, effectively in charge of the Scottish Rugby Union until a new chief executive and performance director are appointed, says he was disappointed by that showing.

“Talking as a fan, it’s not good enough,” he said.

“We should have done a lot better. No one is happy with fourth place in the Six Nations.

“We certainly went into it thinking we could win it or be second, so to come out of it fourth is a disappointment all round.

“There was too big a delta between good and bad and the stats back that up.”

Ex-Gala and Border Reivers star Townsend, head coach since 2017 and on a contract running until April 2026, has been reassured his job is safe for now, however.

“Gregor remains as coach and will continue to work with the team,” said McGuigan.

“We still have confidence in Gregor that he can do it, that he’s got the right coaching staff, he’s got the right team in place, and we need to go with it just now. That’s what we believe to be the right thing to do.”

The Borderer has overseen 79 Scotland matches, winning 43, losing 35 and drawing one – the best win percentage of any head coach since the game went professional.

This year’s Six Nations was Townsend’s seventh and the highest the 50-year-old’s finished in that time was third.