Gregor Townsend: “Nothing has changed” – Scottish Rugby coach

The Scots were booed outside Murrayfield after the collapse against Argentina and Townsend has come under some heavy criticism from the media and fans who feel he has taken the national team as far as he can.

Williamson acknowledges that the team’s results in November were not at the level hoped for, but says it has not affected his confidence that Scotland have the right coaching staff.

“Optimism heading into the fall says a lot about the team’s development and I think it would be foolish of me to say we weren’t very disappointed not to come out of the matches, especially against New Zealand and Argentina, with at least one win,” he said.

He added: “I personally was very disappointed with the result of the New Zealand match, because I thought we could have won by 20 points.”

“The game against Argentina, to be 21-0 up against a team that is often in the top four, especially when all their players are together, and not getting over the line, was incredibly frustrating and there’s no doubt about that.”

However, Williams stressed that he does not “support the idea” that “we have to throw everything to the wind” as a result.

He added: “I think we have an outstanding coaching group. “I think we’ve seen some real progress in a number of areas and I think there’s a lot to like, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that there are also some things that haven’t really gone well in the heat of the moment.

“I think we have to continue to be very confident that we have a structure, a coaching group and an ideology about the way we want to play rugby in Scotland that we have to be confident about – and that is where we are. I don’t expect change there.”