Townsend will get heat for this latest loss, not just because they were beaten – most people predicted an away win – but because they were beaten playing the same brand of rugby that always sees them beaten by Ireland.
On Townsend’s watch, Scotland have won five out of seven against England, with one draw. They’ve beaten France five times and have beaten Wales twice in a row – with historic away victories against both.
They are four wins from five against the Wallabies and, in two Tests against the All Blacks, they were there until the end, losing one by five and the other by eight. But Ireland? It’s a recurring nightmare.
There was a list of things that Scotland had to do, and could not do, that was as long as the Corstorphine Road and they barely ticked a box. Stifled, again. Unable to handle Ireland’s pressure, again. Error-ridden, again.
Blair Kinghorn might play for the greatest club in the world, but he had no great protectors here as he does at Toulouse. The full-back had one of his worst days in a Scotland jersey. A talented athlete, the green shirt is his kryptonite and he is not alone in that.
Scotland needed more aggression, more belligerence, more directness, but they cannot live with Ireland in those areas. They don’t have enough heavies. There is only a certain level of nasty in this team – and that’s part of the problem.
Scotland can win, or at least be competitive, against most nations these days because their backs can have a devastating impact, but against the unrelenting Ireland machine, it’s a different story.
Townsend badly missed captain Sione Tuipulotu’s dominant presence in the midfield and you sense that, if some of his other second rows were not injured right now, he would not have started with the two he started with.
When they are back on their feet, the present, and future, in the second row are Scott Cummings and Max Williamson along with Gregor Brown and Cameron Henderson.
Scotland need more thunder, more brutes. To get to another level, they need monsters to meet the likes of Ireland on the gainline and hammer them backwards.
They don’t have anything like the carries or the force from their locks when it is Grant Gilchrist and Jonny Gray, fine players though they are.
You can add Andy Onyeama-Christie into the mix of sadly absent warriors. Whether from the start or off the bench, the back row is part of the solution.
In Dublin last year, in a game that went to the wire with only four points between them at the end, the Saracens forward had a fantastic edge to him and made 31 tackles. So, there is a cavalry, but it’s stricken right now.
We won’t see them this Six Nations, which is painful, because it’s England away next and the odds are against Scotland making it five in a row.
England are not Ireland, though. So the psychology is different and the hope is real.
Scotland will not be beaten before the first whistle at Twickenham. That was the suspicion on Sunday.
Outplayed, yes. Overpowered, undoubtedly. But you got a sense, too – and not for the first time – that it was over almost before it began.
