Townsend on future: 'I’m not going to answer that question'

REACTION: Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has sidestepped questions on his future after his side suffered a 29-31 defeat to Italy in Rome on Saturday.

The defeat saw Scotland drop to third in the Six Nations standings, five points behind Ireland and one point behind England with one round remaining.

The Scots now have the daunting prospect of facing the Irish in Dublin to end this year’s tournament in a positive fashion.

However, the Scots will have to do a lot of soul-searching in the coming week as they became the first team in 11 years to lose a Six Nations match away to Italy.

When asked if his position was under threat after that defeat, Townsend said: “I’m not going to answer that question.”

He added: “We’re disappointed with the result today [Saturday], but we know this team have come on since the World Cup.

“We can look at this result and be really disappointed, but I’ve been really proud of how this team’s played during the championship so far.”

Questions were again raised about Scotland’s inability to string together an 80-minute performance.

“Something we’ve talked about before is really trying to put teams away when we are ahead,” Townsend said.

“There was a big momentum swing in the second half.

“For me, our discipline wasn’t good enough and there were a few inaccuracy pieces in there.

“There was definitely stuff that we could have controlled.”

Sources: Express.co.uk & The Telegraph