The question was direct and to the point, but the possible answers were innumerable. “What went wrong?”, Gregor Townsend was asked moments after the Scotland head coach had taken his seat, head bowed in quiet contemplation over a second consecutive Rugby World Cup pool stage exit.
Here was a blank canvas upon which to catalogue the woes, wishes and what-might-have-beens of a night where Scotland’s tournament dreams had come crashing down. What had gone wrong? A night that had begun with such optimism that Ireland could be beaten ended with barely a whimper, Scotland sent home with their tails between their legs. This had always felt a likely date of departure, the brutality of the pool draw leaving an early exit an entirely feasible proposition, but did it really have to be as meek as this?
