Hamish Watson described the decision to send off Zander Fagerson for a tackle on Wyn Jones at a ruck as "absolutely dreadful"; the flanker changed his stance on Monday, explaining his "emotions were very high" after Scotland's loss to Wales
Monday 15 February 2021 13:03, UK
Hamish Watson has described his comments about Scotland team-mate Zander Fagerson's sending off against Wales as "poor".
Prop Fagerson was dismissed by referee Matthew Carley 13 minutes into the second half of Saturday's Six Nations contest at Murrayfield, which Scotland lost 25-24.
The decision came after Fagerson had made a shoulder-led challenge into Wyn Jones at a ruck.
After the match, Scotland flanker Watson said the call was "rubbish", "absolutely dreadful" and "not rugby".
On Monday, replying to a tweet featuring a video of him making the remarks, Watson said: "Poor comments from me, emotions were very high after losing a very tight match. Players' health is paramount."
A week on from their victory over England, Scotland led Wales 17-8 at the interval before things turned around in the second half.
When asked after the match about Fagerson and his red card, Watson said: "That was a rubbish call. An absolutely dreadful call. That's not rugby, that call.
"Zander is absolutely fine. We've already got round him. He's a great player and a big part of everything we do with Scotland. He can hold his head high, I think.
"We lost that game in the last 10 minutes of the first half and the first 10 of the second. We lost that game when we had 15 on the field. 'Z' has nothing to worry about."
He added: "I haven't heard the comms from the TV but I've heard from other people that the TMO said it wasn't a red, then the ref has overruled him.
"The ref has the right to do that if he thinks that's the right call. We as players strongly disagree with that call. As soon as I saw it on the TV, I was thinking, 'That's not even a penalty'.
"There's not much else we can say. We don't think it's a red, a yellow or even a penalty. But that's the way the game is going."
Skipper Stuart Hogg has vowed there will be no repeat of the ill-discipline that cost Scotland against Wales.
Gregor Townsend's team conceded a mere six penalties as they recorded their first victory at Twickenham in 37 years in their championship opener.
But they almost doubled that tally against the Welsh, allowing Wayne Pivac's side far too many opportunities to apply pressure.
Hogg said: "It's little things that are costing us. But the pleasing thing is we know exactly where we're going wrong - there's been times in the past where we've made mistakes and keep making them, whereas now I believe that's a one-off in our ill-discipline.
"We'll be much better prepared for the France game in two weeks in terms of our discipline and we'll get excited for that challenge."
