“They’ve got their facts wrong” - Scotland coach Gregor Townsend downplays 'complaint to World Rugby'

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Reports in the Telegraph last week told of the 51-year-old seeking to open dialogue about banning the practice of naming just one back among the replacements. Speaking at Murrayfield after his side’s 36-29 victory over Wales, Townsend shot down suggestions that any formal grievance had been filed with World Rugby.

“They’ve got their facts wrong”, said Townsend. “There was a private discussion where I was the spokesman for my table and [7-1] was one of the things that was brought up. To get headlines, I’m the one that’s bringing it up.

“It was a World Rugby ‘Shape of the Game’ discussion, and I was the spokesman for the feedback from my table. So it seems to have been translated into something different."

Both sides named a 5-3 split in the Wales match on Saturday. Townsend called upon George Horne, Stafford McDowall and Kyle Rowe in the backs as he rested key players, including co-captain Finn Russell and try scorer Darcy Graham, for the final quarter.

Scotland’s opponents next Saturday, current Six Nations leaders France, named a 7-1 bench in their win over Ireland in Round 4, sending on Bordeaux-Begles’ versatile back Maxime Lucu in the first half for injured Toulouse superstar Antoine Dupont.

“If you want my view, I don’t think the bench was set up to suddenly have a new forward pack coming on”, said the former Glasgow Warriors coach, now coaching his eighth Six Nations. “But that’s for World Rugby to decide what you do with the bench, and to make any changes.

“For now, you can put eight forwards on the bench if you want. We’ve faced [7-1] already with South Africa [in the autumn]. We thought we rose to that challenge really well when they brought their seven forwards on.

“If it happens again this week, we’ve got to do even better.”

Townsend did, however, suggest that Scotland will consider using the controversial setup while it remains within the rules set by the governing body. The head coach emphasised that Scotland’s versatile backs mean the option remains there for his side.

“We do have players that play in different positions”, Townsend said. “France have that, but so do we.

“Guys like Blair Kinghorn and Tom Jordan have played 10 at international level and obviously Tom’s played 15 and 12. So who knows? We’ll see.”

England secured the trophy with a win in Rome, as they handed Italy a one-sided 34-5 bonus point defeat. We are challenging you to remember who started for England that day, as the match was played in front of an empty stadium during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

You have five minutes to provide your answers, good luck!