Gregor Townsend backs Scotland to learn from ‘painful experiences’ of last year

Gregor Townsend believes the “painful experiences” that undermined Scotland’s last tilt at the Guinness Six Nations have made them a stronger proposition ahead of this year’s championship.

After winning their opening two matches of 2024 against Wales and England, the Scots ended up finishing fourth after a controversial home defeat at home to France and a shock loss away to Italy before they rounded their campaign with a narrow defeat by champions Ireland in Dublin.

Townsend saw enough in the autumn series to feel that the impact of the near miss against France – when Sam Skinner’s last-gasp try was contentiously not awarded by the officials – and the second-half collapse in Rome has helped move his experienced squad forward with renewed focus.

“You want to win every game, that’s why we put the work in, but you often get better with painful experiences,” said the head coach, who named his 37-man squad on Wednesday. “I feel we’re a better team now from the pain we went through in the France game and the Italy game in particular.

Ready for the challenge ahead