Scotland national rugby team head coach Gregor Townsend urging players to end autumn test series on high v Tonga
Scotland national rugby team head coach Gregor Townsend is calling on his players to end their four-match autumn test series on a high by beating Tonga this coming Sunday.
That match, with kick-off at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium at 1.40pm, concludes the Scots’ international break and former Gala and Border Reivers back Townsend is hoping to see his side bounce back from two defeats on the bounce – by 33-24 against Argentina on Sunday and 25-17 versus New Zealand eight days earlier, both also at home.
That will be their eighth game against the Polynesian kingdom and they’ve won six of their seven meetings to date, their only loss being by 21-15 at home in Aberdeen in November 2012, with Andy Robinson as head coach, Melrose’s Kelly Brown skippering and Jedburgh’s Greig Laidlaw accounting for all of their points by kicking five penalties.
They last met at 2023’s Rugby World Cup in France, Scotland winning 45-17, with Townsend in charge and Hawick’s Darcy Graham among their seven try-scorers.
The hosts go into this weekend’s series finale ranked ninth in the world, down one place, with Tonga 19th.
“We’re onto the next game and we want to put on a really good performance as we know the Six Nations are going to be very tough too, with the teams we’ve got coming up, so we want to make sure we finish on a positive,” said Townsend.
“We’re very much together.
“I think we have to show who we are and who we want to be, and that’s an 80-minute performance based on physicality, based on huge effort.
“We have to show we’re a better team from that experience around our discipline, giving away ten penalties.”
Looking back over his side’s first home loss to Argentina since 2009, the 52-year-old added: “I believe in the group. I believe in the players we have in and just outside the squad.
“I know they’ll be hurting. We’re hurting with them but we know we have to be better.
“As a group, we review together how did we not win last week, how did we not win this week. As coaches and players, that’s what we look at.
“We know the team we have and what we’ve shown over the last two weeks. That has to be turning into victories – that’s what we need to deliver to our supporters – so that wasn't good enough.
“We gave Argentina too many entries in our 22 because we just didn’t get back onside on a few occasions. That will be the big work-on for us during the week and composure. It was a work-on already this week and it’s still going to be a work-on.”
Townsend is scheduled to announce his match-day squad to play Tonga this Friday.