'Blame me, not Gregor': Scotland skipper Tuipulotu takes responsibility for recent failures and says Townsend is still the man to lead country forward

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu moved to shelter under-fire Gregor Townsend from criticism by insisting he and the players should take the bulk of the blame for recent poor performances.

Pressure is mounting on the head coach following last weekend’s capitulation to Argentina and the failure to beat the All Blacks from a strong position the previous weekend.

Supporters booed the team off the field after the loss to the Pumas that saw Scotland slide to ninth in the world rankings.

Townsend insisted on Friday he had given no thought to stepping aside after eight years in charge despite the growing call from fans for him to go.

The former fly-half was given additional backing by Tuipulotu, with the skipper insisting Townsend is still the best man to lead the country into the next World Cup.

And the Glasgow centre — the only player from last week’s starting XV to retain his place for Sunday’s game with Tonga — instead believes he and the players should carry the can for that on-field collapse after being 21-0 ahead.

Tuipulotu said: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever stood in front of (the media) and not spoken honestly. When you guys ask me questions, I’ve always given you my honest answer. And my honest answer is I’m fully behind my head coach. So are all the players. And I take a lot of accountability for what happened on the weekend.

‘I’m the captain of the team and Gregor’s not down there playing rugby. He’s put us in a position to get up by 21 points. And I take accountability as the captain of the squad for the reason we let that lead slide.

‘As captain, you’ve got to figure out a way to inspire your troops to do that and to stop the momentum. It’s more of a player’s thing for me. I’m down on the field, I’m out there being able to influence the situation along with all the other players.

‘So I stand in front of you all here and speak honestly that I’m fully behind Gregor. And I still believe he’s the man for the job in what we can achieve leading into the World Cup.’

Tuipulotu revealed there had been no punches pulled in the post-match review but hoped that the candour of the conversations would help the group in the long run.

He added: ‘It’s been probably one of the most difficult and confronting weeks I’ve had in camp as a Scotland player. But I’m sure it’s one that was needed as well.

‘There were a lot of honest conversations, individual meetings, team meetings, players meetings and stuff like that for us to talk about why that game went wrong and why it’s not good enough. And I thought we did that this week.

‘It’s going to be hard for us to go prove to the public in this one game against Tonga where we’re at. But, for us, it’s just about progress now and looking to the Six Nations.

‘It’s just about us using that hurt we’re feeling after Argentina and New Zealand to try to progress.’