Scotland’s rugby head coach Gregor Townsend has said there is plenty for his team to be optimistic about as the 2026 Six Nations launched in Edinburgh on Monday, January 26. It comes after a challenging autumn which saw them lose two matches out of four.

The long-serving head coach came under fire in November after his side went from a commanding 21-0 lead against Argentina to losing 33-24 on home soil. They also came agonisingly close to a maiden victory against New Zealand, coming back to draw level before losing 25-17.

Townsend believes the agonising nature of those defeats has helped sharpen minds within his squad, and he is also heartened by the fact all of his key players appear to be fit heading into the championship.

The fact almost half of his group is made up of players from an in-form Glasgow side is a further source of encouragement.

Speaking at the launch event at Edinburgh Castle, he said: “I think, just in terms of our squad, we’re in a better place because just now over 90 per cent of the players are available for selection.

“That hasn’t always been the case. I do believe the way the team played throughout 2025 in some of our biggest games, when I think back to New Zealand, France, England, the players have performed at a really high level.

“Even though we had those painful moments of not winning against New Zealand and Argentina, I see that as positive.

“They were not positive at the time, obviously, but what we learned can help us when we’re going to have those moments of adversity, when the opposition score a try or break our line, so we’re better prepared now to deal with them.

“I think also the fact Glasgow are playing really well and a lot of our players come from the Glasgow team, that is a positive going into the tournament.”

Townsend is waiting for further news on fitness issues surrounding Liam McConnell, Dave Cherry, Jamie Dobie and Ewan Ashman but he was confident they would all be available for the championship opener away to Italy a week on Saturday.

The head coach is preparing for his ninth Six Nations in charge of Scotland and after back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the last two tournaments, he acknowledged they require more consistency to contend at the sharp end.

He added: “I think the Six Nations has been pretty open the last few years. You know that every team is going to face a tough day, even the best teams.

“You know that you can’t drop below a certain level of performance if you’re seen as someone who can win the tournament.

“Our challenge is putting those learnings (from autumn) into place, rising to the challenge, but also doing that for five games. Last year we played four games at a really good level, but we didn’t play the fifth one against Ireland anything like we needed to.

“If we can get that same level of performance over five games with the learnings that we’ve had since then, we’ll be a very competitive team.”