Townsend can’t afford to drop the ball after Warriors’ triumph

• Scotland take on Canada on Saturday in the first match of their North and South American tour 
• Squad will look to build on the feelgood factor of Glasgow’s URC title triumph
• Townsend needs an upturn in results after a poor World Cup and Six Nations 

WHEN the fixtures were announced for Scotland’s summer tour in March, Gregor Townsend and his players were in a fairly dark place.

They had just lost to Italy in Rome and were set to bring the curtain down on a Six Nations campaign which yielded just two wins from their five matches.

They were in a state of regression. At that point, with questions being asked about whether or not Townsend should keep his job, any notion of a feelgood factor felt a million miles away.

Yet, as the Scots begin this tour of North and South America, the waves of positivity surging through Scottish rugby would have been powerful enough to carry the players over the Atlantic in the blink of an eye.

By going all the way and winning the United Rugby Championship, Glasgow Warriors have proven beyond all doubt that Scottish teams *don’t* suffer from any kind of mental frailty.

Teams who are mentally weak don’t go to Munster and win, as Glasgow did in the semi-finals. They don’t go and beat the Bulls in the final in South Africa if they have a suspect mentality.

Any shortcomings in future will be a failure of coaching and preparation. That much is clear, given Glasgow’s spectacular success under Franco Smith.

There are plenty of people within Scottish rugby who feel that Smith may well be the perfect candidate to succeed Townsend as Scotland head coach.

We’re not quite there yet. It’s a conversation which has been put on the backburner for now, more by circumstance than anything.

With Scottish Rugby currently looking for a new chief executive and performance director, sacking Townsend and looking for a new head coach is a headache they could well do without.

But there’s no doubt he needs results. On the back of a poor Six Nations, he needs a strong second half to 2024 if he is to advance his cause as the right man to take Scotland forward.

The summer tour begins against Canada in Ottawa tonight, with Scotland then facing USA in Washington DC next weekend.

They will then head to South America, where they will face Chile in Santiago and Uruguay in Montevideo to complete the four-match tour.

It is a sad reflection of Scotland’s standing in the world game that they are embarking on a summer tour against second-rate opponents.

England are touring New Zealand and play two Tests against the All Blacks. Wales are touring Australia, having already played South Africa.

Ireland are touring South Africa and a meeting between the best two sides in world rugby at present is the pick of the bunch of all the summer Test fixtures.

Then there’s Scotland. Without wishing to be disrespectful, the calibre of opposition renders this tour something of a sideshow when compared to those of the other tier-one nations.

Plainly, against such limited opposition, Scotland need to be picking up four wins from four. No ifs, no buts, no maybes.

It needs to be a clean sweep or else major questions will once again be asked of Townsend and his future in charge.

He has named a largely experimental team for tonight’s game against Canada, with five uncapped players in the starting XV and another five on the bench.

There will be much intrigue around Sale Sharks duo Arron Reed and Gus Warr, who both get the nod to start.

Both have been key players for a Sale side who reached the semi-finals of this season’s English Premiership.

Reed scored nine tries from the wing, while Warr was impressive at scrum-half. Both will make their debut this evening and should add good depth to Townsend’s squad.

Josh Bayliss will have the chance to show what he can do in the back row. Bayliss is one of those players who we hear a lot about but rarely see.

Townsend has talked him up at various stages over the past couple of years without ever really giving him a run of games.

Bayliss has been in good form for a Bath side who were beaten finalists in this season’s Premiership and he will be expected to shine in a back row that includes co-captain Luke Crosbie.

Harry Paterson will finally win his second cap after excelling on his debut against France in the Six Nations in February.

Paterson was fearless at Murrayfield that day and Scotland will need plenty of his flair and running power in a match they are expected to win comfortably.

Canada are a poor side. They failed to qualify for the World Cup last year and are currently ranked 21st in the world, below the likes of Romania, Spain, Uruguay and USA.

Even an experimental Scotland team will be expected to win with a bit to spare. Anything else would represent a poor day at the office.

Townsend has the likes of Kyle Steyn, Matt Fagerson and Ben Healy on the bench, but they shouldn’t really be needed.

There are a few other big hitters on this tour, such as Huw Jones, Duhan van der Merwe, Sione Tuipulotu, George Horne, Rory Darge, Jamie Ritchie and Adam Hastings.

They will all come back into the equation at some point, with most of the Glasgow contingent being given some rest time after their exploits in South Africa a fortnight ago.

However, it will be incumbent on Townsend and this group of players to continue the feelgood factor in Scottish rugby over these next four weeks.

Glasgow have raised the bar. A summer tour against Canada, USA, Chile and Uruguay is no time to drop the ball.

Later this year, Scotland will face Fiji, South Africa, Portugal and Australia in the Autumn Test Series.

Those games will be a far stiffer challenge and offer a fairer reflection of where his team is at. But, for now, all Townsend can do is win games.

It starts tonight with Canada in Ottawa. He will be under no illusions that only a clean sweep will do on this summer tour. Anything else would raise more questions than answers.

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