Gregor Townsend hails Scotland for showing ‘true identity' in victory over Samoa
Seven different Scotland players scored tries as the tourists won 41-12 at Eden Park in Auckland.
Scotland opened their tour with victory over the Maori All Blacks in New Zealand but were on the end of an ill-disciplined 29-14 defeat by Fiji in Suva last weekend.
That result was a major blow for Scotland's aspirations of breaking into the top seeds ahead of the World Cup draw in December, but Townsend's side reacted in the best way possible to finish the season on a high.
'It was hugely important,' Townsend said. 'You rise to a challenge and you show your true identity when you've got that challenge of backing up a defeat and the players showed that.
'The way they came together during the week with just a six-day turnaround and one training session, they were really aligned and focused on delivering a better performance and they did that.'
Scotland quickly got on top through tries from Lions-bound Ewan Ashman and Rory Hutchinson in the opening 13 minutes and were always in control of the game.
Arron Reed, Kyle Steyn, Grant Gilchrist, Kyle Rowe and George Turner all crossed with the Samoans grabbing two second-half tries of their own.
Townsend said: 'We had to defend really well at the beginning of the game. I thought Samoa brought a lot from their attack. They were direct, they were physical and they moved the ball well to the wide channels.
'So that set us up really well for us to move the ball when we had it. I thought we were really clinical in the 22, through our forwards mainly, with the mall, but also the direct carrying.
'And then just some really good skills to score tries and give us that cushion going into half-time.
'That would be close to how well the team played against the Maori. This game was more physical.
'It's been a really enjoyable tour, so it's important we finish with a top performance.'
Townsend hailed scrum-half Jamie Dobie, who was involved in the build-up to several tries, but was stopped just short of the line himself and delivered some important defensive interventions.
'Jamie was great,' he added. 'He was battling with cramp near the end, but for him to go from nine to wing and play equally as well….
'I thought Gregor Brown was outstanding, came back from injury and then getting another injury in our first game on tour. Grant Gilchrist going 80 minutes again and Fin Richardson in his first cap, showing real energy.
'And it was really pleasing to see our scrum and our line-up maul being dominant. It's something we've spent a lot of time working on. The players have really worked hard and we have had our rewards in that area on this tour.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
3 minutes ago
- BBC News
'A chip on my shoulder' from Melbourne days
Centre Sione Tuipulotu says he returns to Melbourne with a chip on his shoulder going into the second British and Irish Lions Test with Australia on 28-year-old, who scored the Lions' opening try in a 27-19 first Test win over the Wallabies in Brisbane, started his career at Melbourne Rebels but chose to play his rugby away from Australia after struggling to nail down a regular starting a move from Japan to Glasgow Warriors in 2021, Tuipulotu opted to represent Scotland, who he is eligible to play for through his grandmother."If you had asked me when I first moved from Melbourne I would say yeah, it's personal," Tuipulotu said."There's still a chip on my shoulder. What has got me to this point is having that chip on my shoulder. But in terms of me being bitter about Australian rugby, not at all."I wasn't good enough to play for the Wallabies when I was in Melbourne. It wasn't a selector problem, I wasn't good enough, that's plain and simple."I owe everything to Scottish rugby because they've made me the player that I am today."Now I get the chance to go back to Melbourne and play in my home city and hopefully close out a Test series. The stars have aligned for me and I feel very grateful."
BBC News
3 minutes ago
- BBC News
Dundee players 'very positive' about Pressley, says Shaughnessy
Joe Shaughnessy insists his former Dundee team-mates are "very positive" about working under Steven Pressley, despite the head coach's difficult start at Dens League Cup group defeat at Alloa was a second straight loss to lower-league fans were against the appointment of Pressley, who is now facing added pressure from the support after a challenging start to his centre-back Shaughnessy, who left Dens this summer to sign for Newcastle Jets in Australia, says the Dundee boss is making a good impression on the squad."I've spoken to a few of the players and they are very positive about it all," the 33-year-old told BBC Sportsound. "They're enjoying working with him. He's trying to get his idea across. When I talk to Simon Murray and some of the other lads, they enjoy the training and they are being worked hard. "The fans jumped on him saying he's not going to win titles or whatever, but the players are enjoying what he's come in and started doing. "They are onside and trying to build towards something. Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later."Shaughnessy added that any talk of sacking Pressley based on the League Cup group results is "very harsh".
The Guardian
11 minutes ago
- The Guardian
England outclass USA in dominant win amid lightning delays in Washington DC
On a perfectly unlovely summer's day in Washington DC, amid lasering sunshine, lowering clouds, debilitating humidity and lengthy lightning delays, Steve Borthwick's Lions-light England sweated to a six-try win over the US Eagles. Borthwick expressed satisfaction, telling reporters his men did well 'in the challenging conditions, two lightning breaks, so the game lasted effectively a long time. There's a scenario that none of us had faced before. We wanted a short half-time to deal with that but it wasn't possible, but that's six new caps in today.' The tourists didn't produce high art – hard when you wait an hour to kick-off because of lightning, then have to play through a kind of atmospheric soup. But their mostly young Premiership professionals generally performed with precision beyond opponents employed by US clubs, except centre Dominic Besag, who has a year left in college. The first try took 10 minutes to come. There was a spell of American pressure but the home fly-half, Chris Hilsenbeck, was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and England made use of their own kicks to the corner and driving mauls, hooker Curtis Langdon touching down, captain George Ford converting. Try two came soon after from another US error, Tom Pittman coughing up possession on his own line before opposing centre Luke Northmore trotted over. Ford converted again. Shortly before the first water break, the US drove to the England line but were held up. Shortly before the half-hour, England No 8 Alex Dombrandt appeared to have scored from another driving maul, only to be denied for obstruction. And then … lightning struck, again, and the teams followed protocol, again, and jogged their way off the field. Fans jogged after them, to jammed concourse bars. When it was safe to come back out, the players had to warm up again. Senate vote-a-ramas have flown by faster. Senators sometimes have to be found in the bars of Capitol Hill. Here, a fair few fans failed to come back at all. Play resumed with the Eagles under the cosh. One maul steal by England flanker Chandler Cunningham-South led to what appeared to be a try for Joe Carpenter, the debutant full-back, until video found a knock-on. There was no problem with the wing Caden Murley's finish for the third, snappishly directed by Ford. His conversion went wide and that, finally, was the half, 19-0 to England. England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet scooted over shortly after the restart. Ford converted. It took a while for the fifth try to arrive, but it did, through a break by wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and support from Harry Randall, the substitute scrum-half. Ford converted for 33-0. Gabriel Oghre, debutant replacement hooker, scored from a maul and another bench new boy, Charlie Atkinson, converted. The game ended with consolation for the Eagles, flanker Christian Poidevin (son of Australia great Simon) running smart from a lineout to put Shilo Klein, the replacement hooker, over the line at last. The conversion was wide, the game was done. With World Cups on US soil in 2031 (men) and 2033 (women), World Rugby could do with a more competitive product. Nonetheless, executives say they are in for the long haul. Before Saturday's DC doubleheader, which did feature a compelling contest between the US women and Fiji, chief executive Alan Gilpin told reporters 'about $275m is earmarked right now over the next five-six years' for investment in the US. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion That money will go into 'everything from community rugby building with USA Rugby … through to social, digital, building around the matches that we bring here,' Gilpin said. 'It's not just about putting one-off matches in Washington or Chicago. It's about building those audiences.' At Audi Field, the attendance was given as 15,198 for the women's game, a US record, and 19,079 for the men, representing total tickets scanned. On the concourse, unscientific polling revealed that among the usual colourful riot of fans from all corners of the American game – high schools, colleges, clubs, LGBTQ+, older fans – not all had come solely to see Ilona Maher. But she was a major draw for sure. Against Fiji, the social media star who was this week named ESPYs Breakthrough Athlete of the Year generated roars each time she ran from outside centre. Against battling, skilful opponents, her Eagles started strongly but found themselves holding on to win, 31-24. Maher made the tackle that killed the last Fijian attack. The crowd loved it.
