Gregor Townsend rejected claims that Scotland suffer from a mental block against Ireland after yet another day of crushing disappointment in Dublin.

Bidding to win the Six Nations title as well as the Triple Crown, Scotland needed to win at The Aviva whilst hoping that England could do them a favour against France.

But they were swept aside in ruthless fashion by the home side, with Townsend’s winless run in this fixture now extending to 12 matches.

Townsend admitted that the performance in the first half was not up to scratch, but he refused to accept that his team’s inability to beat Ireland is now purely psychological.

Asked whether there is now a mental block, he said: ‘No, Ireland are a very good team. They’ve got an excellent record here against almost every team. We’ve unfortunately been through this period when they’ve been a dominant force.

‘We were here two years ago and we lost by four points, but we didn’t really fire that many shots that day. We fired more shots today, but in the end it’s a bigger score.

Townsend feels that Scotland came up short on the level he expects 

‘They’re a quality side, you’ve got to play very well to beat them, and we didn’t do that for long enough today. The first half, in particular, wasn’t at the level we wanted.

‘It’s still been a positive championship for us, absolutely. The performances we’ve delivered, especially those key victories, was some of the best rugby I’ve ever seen this team play.

‘We were exceptional last week against France and it would have been difficult to repeat that. It’s going to be difficult to repeat that ever again, but we needed to be better today.

‘This is a reminder and a lesson. The reminder is about what we need to do to play our best. When we do that, we can beat one of the best teams in the world as we did last week.

‘We put Ireland under pressure in that third quarter of the game. But the lesson is, it has to be for a longer period. We’re not saying 80 minutes, no one can play 80 minutes when they’ve got no possession. But we’ve got to be better when we do have those opportunities.

‘So, yeah, just another game for us to know what works and what we have to lean into more, double down on more, and what we have to keep at.’

With so much at stake, Townsend was pressed on why he believed this game should be a ‘lesson’ to the players.

This was not a day for a learning experience. It was a day when when there was major silverware to be won and Scotland fell well short. In the end, they were schooled by Ireland and soundly beaten.

It was pointed out to the Scotland head coach that his team have had plenty of lessons in this fixture in the past, but they never seem to learn or get any closer.

‘That’s sport, that’s rugby,’ he replied. ‘If you want a perfect performance every week, then you’re living in fantasy land.

Finn Russell and Blair Kinghorn are left devastated after Ireland secure the victory

‘Every team is going to have moments in the game where they don’t do as well as opposition. Every team is going to have a performance, especially in the Six Nations, where they don’t achieve the highest level of rugby.

‘The positive was that we regrouped in the second half and we played some excellent rugby, but it wasn’t enough to win.’

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu insisted that the team had taken major strides forward despite falling short on the final day.

He believes this should not be viewed as the end of the road, but rather the start of a new chapter as Scotland look to build and continue challenging to win silverware every year.

‘Yeah, it’s a sore one,’ admitted the skipper. ‘Ireland deserved to win. They won more collisions than us and I think that went a long way to them winning the game.

‘It’s hard to really put my finger on how it all panned out. That will probably be later on after letting my emotions brew a little bit.

‘I’ve seen what’s gone in behind the scenes and I’m super proud of the group and the way we bounced back after Italy. That’s not an easy thing to do and I’m really proud of the boys, how they rallied in this championship and we definitely made progress, there’s no doubt about that. But yeah, my goal was to hit that triple triple crown and we didn’t get there.

‘There was progression and I don’t feel like it’s the end of this group. I feel like it’s a good starting point for us and I’m proud of our championship.’