Townsend praises energy and physicality

The national team has bounced back from an unsettled start to the 2020 Guinness Six Nations campaign, winning in Rome and then again at BT Murrayfield.

“We’ve been consistent throughout the championship, we defended well and we’ve been tough to play against.

“In terms of the other games, we’ve been tough to beat and we’ve learned and improved as a group.

“Obviously it was great to see the energy and physicality the players played with today.”

A red card at the 36th minute meant France were a player down – France tighthead Mohamed Haouas sent off for a punch on Jamie Ritchie – however Townsend believes this wasn’t the sole reason for Scotland’s success.

He added: “Obviously [the red card] was important but I thought we played better in the first-half than the second.

“We turned them over I think nine times in the first-half. We defended and we had opportunities getting in behind them.

“It was a big moment for them and a big moment for us and I’m really pleased we made the most of that in the next two or three minutes

“It was great to see the players coming into half-time really confident with how they had been playing.”

The Head Coach also believed the quick turnaround from the Sunday clash to the final game in Cardiff this Saturday will not be overly detrimental to preparations.

“We’ve known for a while we’ll have to do less at training, less in terms of any additions to playbooks and game plans,” he explained.

“We’ve had experience with this in the world cup when it was a four day turn around, I think we only had one training session, we’re planning for one and a half this week.

“We just have to go down there and show the fight, show the consistency, a little bit more quality and learn from our game today to take it to another level.

“We’ll have to, Wales are a very good side.”