Gregor Townsend accepts criticism is ‘part of the game’ ahead of pivotal Calcutta Cup clash

Under-fire Scotland boss Gregor Townsend has conceded that criticism and outside noise is “part of the game”, though says he it should not distract from his side’s attempts to win the Calcutta Cup against England.

Townsend is under increasing pressure after a limp opening showing from Scotland against Italy in Rome to start the Six Nations, which followed dispiriting defeats to New Zealand and Argentina in the autumn.

The head coach extended his contract as recently as September but has come under scrutiny since, with former Scotland captain John Barclay suggesting last weekend that Townsend will have to go if the side fail to secure a top three tournament finish.

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A visit from England has generally brought success for Scotland under Townsend, with the hosts winning three of the last four Calcutta Cup meetings at Murrayfield.

Their head coach therefore believes it is important to shut out the noise as Scotland prepare for a pivotal fixture, though understands the criticism.

“That's an existential question,” Townsend said when asked if anything said externally affects his group. “It's part of the game. We're all sports fans. We understand what happens when you lose, when people open up to criticise you or the team.

“When we're sitting in the changing room after a game, after the defeat, it's not something that you would ever think that's going to be in the front of your mind. It's the, ‘how could we have performed better?’ That feeling of disappointment at the end. That's overall.

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“That's overriding feeling. Now as you get to day one or day two, I'm sure there'll be a few players, staff that will be going onto BBC Sport, the Telegraph website, social media, and starting to go, ‘oh, there's more than just a defeat. There's things that are out there’.

“That's the thing that can distract from what is important: the feeling that we had losing, why we lost, how we can get better, and we throw everything into that at training. Our players have done that this week. They're a team that is together. They're a team that know that wasn't good enough at the weekend, but they put huge effort into that game in a very tough situation, very tough circumstances against a really good side. It wasn't enough to win, but I know they'll do everything they can to win this week again. That's all you can ask from a team.”

Scotland suffered a narrow defeat to England last year to end a run of four successive wins in the fixture, which included their first successes at Twickenham since 1983.

Despite their recent struggles, Townsend hopes his team can draw on some positive memories.

He said: “I would hope they don't fade into irrelevance, because our players have evidence that they've won in this fixture. If it's the extra bit of belief, motivation, evidence, that we've been in this position before and we've won, then that can only help.

“We didn't win last year, so that was a tough one, because we felt we played one of our best ever games against England last year. So it doesn't always work that that evidence leads to a victory. But we're going to lean into anything that can help us get a win this weekend.”

While tinkering with his forward pack, Townsend has resisted the urge to return Duhan van der Merwe to the starting side despite the wing’s outstanding record against England.

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“We've got to pick who we believe will give us the best chance of winning,” Townsend explained. “Sometimes that decision is a very tough one.

“When you think of Duhan and how well he's played for the team, we made that decision a week ago and we backed Jamie Dobie. I thought Jamie played really well. He obviously picked up that injury.

“He's been outstanding at training. So we're going with someone who we believe in the form he is right now. But we know if Duhan had the opportunity, he probably would play his best rugby. He's getting back to his best rugby. I thought his last two games for Edinburgh were excellent. And he's in the mix.”