Townsend on Scotland's emphatic victory over England
Standing pitchside in the aftermath of Scotland's bazooka proving too much for England's pop gun, Sione Tuipulotu, a captain stepping back from the abyss, spoke of the trauma that his players went through after the debacle in Rome a week ago. A week which now feels like a year.
Now, in a happier place, he could never remember hurting after a game like he hurt after Italy last weekend. He "internalised the pain" of that defeat. Then he let it loose on England.
Tuipulotu made his point like a man who had been through therapy. In the mind's eye you could imagine him stretched out on a couch with the sound of gently lapping water playing in his ears. Better that than listening to the torrents of stick about his team and the wounding chat about his head coach.
Gregor Townsend watched what he said, later on.
