5 days ago
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Scotland's second-half collapse against Argentina on Sunday left the usually mild Murrayfield crowd venting their anger.
Questions over the future of head coach Gregor Townsend inevitably followed after the 33-24 defeat.
Here, former Scotland captain Jason White picks through some of the big issues...
Gregor Townsend said he didn’t believe there is a ‘mental fragility’ to his side after defeat to Argentina. Do you agree?
Gregor is doing his doing his best to protect the players and the environment in the squad but I have to disagree with him. Everything points to them switching off mentally.
The link between rugby intelligence — when and how you play with clarity to give your team the best chance of winning — comes down to the skill set of individuals and the group collectively. I struggle to understand how we can play so well and then capitulate like we did.
Gregor Townsend is a man under pressure but could stay on for another Six Nations campaign
Scotland's beaten players hold their heads in despair after a second consecutive failure
Rodrigo Isgro leads the Pumas' celebrations as the final whistle sounds on a fine victory
We have players who were key performers in this summer’s successful Lions series, who have won leagues and cups. They know how to close out a game. Frustratingly, they switched off yesterday and allowed Argentina back in to claim victory.
Former Scotland prop Peter Wright said that he believed the time was right for Townsend to move on. Do you agree?
I can understand why Peter has said that but, no, I don’t think Gregor moving on straight away is the right thing to do.
If that were to happen we would likely have one of the other coaches step up, which would be a short-term option.
A more obvious time for a change will be after the Six Nations. That gives Scottish Rugby the time to sound out potential replacements and find out which coaches are on the market.
It also gives Gregor one last opportunity for the squad to step up and put in the 80-minute performance, week on week, that they need to deliver. That to me feels like the right option, but the pressure is clearly building on Gregor.
Darcy Graham and Pierre Schoeman reflect on another disappointing Murrayfield result
The players are ultimately responsible for what happens on the field of play — what would you change about what they are doing right now?
The responsibility is on every player’s shoulders but definitely falls more to the senior leadership group.
Sione, Finn, Grant Gilchrist, Blair Kinghorn, Pierre Schoeman, Scott Cummings, Jack Dempsey — this group need to grab the game by the scruff of the neck at the various stages and know when to hit the accelerator and attack and when to slow it down and ride out the undoubted periods when your team is on the back foot.
They are all good men, but they fell away from the standards they are capable of and expect of each other as our leaders.
A football analogy would be the midfielder who just puts his foot on the ball and slows everything down to allow the team to breathe and take stock.
It felt like we missed that yesterday. Whether it was a 21-7 or 21-14, we needed to get hold of the ball and starve Argentina of possession and halt their momentum.
Ewan Ashman scores Scotland's second try but things were to go south at a rate thereafter
The Murrayfield crowd booed the team at the end, which was unusual. Did you ever experience that as a player? What kind of impact would that have?
Thankfully I never experienced that at Murrayfield. The closet I came was being booed in Italy on the team bus after losing to the Italians in the Six Nations. That really hurt and I remember it vividly.
The group I was part of were a proud bunch and it was part of our debrief about who we were playing for and the sacrifices the fans had made to come to Italy.
Without doubt it will hurt the group who played yesterday. The current group have a great relationship with the fans and there will be so many girls and boys who idolise our players.
The fans have high expectations as they know how good the group can be and the brand of rugby when it is going well is brilliant to watch. When the performance on the pitch falls short, they let everyone know. Booing is the clearest way to make that known.
Elliot Millar Mills looks dejected at time-up after putting in an impressive shift off the bench
Finally, give us some reasons for cheer after a difficult week or so for Scottish rugby... what impressed you yesterday?
When we are good we are up there with the best in the world with our attacking play. Going 21-0 up against a very good Argentina team showed a follow on from an excellent 20 minutes versus the All Blacks. We have the players to score tries and open up defences.
Another huge plus was the second-half scrum penalties we won when Elliot Millar Mills came on. We all know how good Zander Fagerson is and our strength on the bench has been rightly questioned, but Elliot put down a really strong marker.
It was also a marker for Jack Dempsey, who with his try and work rate over the last two games has proved he can provide the go-forward and dynamism required from your back row in international rugby.
