Ashman 'gutted' for club teammate Graham after Scotland collapse against Argentina sours winger's 50th cap
The Edinburgh Rugby hooker scored two tries as Scotland took a 21-0 lead over Los Pumas only to be followed by a stunning Murrayfield capitulation.
Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman was left ‘gutted’ by their home defeat to Argentina at the weekend, particularly for Edinburgh teammate Darcy Graham who was celebrating his 50th cap.
Ashman was having a terrific individual game with two tires as well as a strong showing in both the scrum and line out. However, as the wheels came off for Scotland the 21-0 lead eventually ended in a 33-24 defeat to Los Pumas.
The Scots have just one game remaining in the 2025 Autumn Nations Series, against Tonga at Murrayfield this Sunday. However, it’s unlikely any results regardless of how well they perform will be enough to consider this series a success in the eyes of most supporters.
Argentina result “extremely tough to take’ says double try scorer Ewan Ashman
Speaking after the defeat, the Edinburgh Rugby hooker said: “Well, I can only tell you about me personally, but I'm gutted. Obviously, extremely tough to take.
“It'll be a tough review, that second half, but mainly I'm just disappointed for Darcy. It's his 50th cap. If anybody deserves to get a result on their 50th cap, it's that man. He deserves a result for what he's put in. I’m gutted.
“We were pretty dominant in that first. There was a time when we were 21-0 up, and then things just danced at a couple of things. It's players' discipline and composure.
“ We should have finished them off. We didn't take our opportunities, and we let him back into it. Discipline and composure is a combination of those two things. Just gave him all the momentum in the second half.”
Ashman was quick to defend head coach Gregor Townsend, who has come in for significant criticism from supporters after the defeat. He says the collapse is entirely on the players who must take the blame.
“It's completely players. You can see from being 21-0 up, we stick to what we're doing. We should have buried him, but it's just players' accountability.
“It's individuals' errors, individuals' discipline, and certain decision-making that killed us. You can't do that against a quality team like Argentina. It's all on the players.
“It's just the accumulation of individual errors. Today we had a few offsides and discipline, but then also the decision-making around that finish zone. We got rewarded, and then we decided to go away from that.
“We had the framework, and we were doing what we were doing well. I don't know why we went away from that. It's just on the players. We have to put our hands up individually and say that's on us.”
Ashman desperate to play next week to try and put Argentina defeat right against Tonga
The fourth and final match of their Autumn Nations Test Series sees Tonga visit Murrayfield. Although no international test is ‘easy’ by any means, Scotland will be heavy favourites against the Pacific Islanders.
“You want to play for Scotland as much as you can,” said Ashman. “I'd love to play next week. It's not in my hands now.
“I've done as much as I can. Obviously, you want to win every opportunity you get. We'll have to wait and see.
“It's not acceptable [the overall series], but all we can do now is go out and put on the best performance we can next week. We have to take our learnings from it, but there's no point.
“We can't change it now. We've got to go out and win next week and win convincingly.
“It's been competitive in training. It's only going to get more competitive. The boys are going to be wanting to put their hands up. There's a lot of good players that haven't played yet.
“It's going to be a physical week's training, definitely. The boys that have played in my feature, they're going to have to up it again. We've got to get better than that.”