Defeat tough to take – but useful lesson
GREGOR TOWNSEND insists Scotland’s summer tour has still been a success – despite defeat to Fiji dropping them to sixth in the world rankings.
The new national boss suffered his first setback in Suva on Saturday as the Scots lost out 27-22 in a hard-fought clash.
After beating Italy in Singapore then Australia in Sydney it was a disappointing way to finish up.
Scotland could have moved above the Aussies and up to fourth in the rankings for the first time had they seen off the Fijians.
The defeat instead sees them fall below South Africa to sixth in the table.
But Townsend said: “It was a great experience to come here, playing in a different environment, different from anything our players have faced.
“We are going to have regular games against Polynesian teams – we play Samoa in November and might have one in our World Cup group.
“It is great to face these teams – not so good when you lose but there are areas where we’ll be a better team from what we learned.”
Captain John Barclay also wanted to focus on the positives, particularly that 24-19 win over the Aussies.
He said: “When we play well we can beat some of the best teams in the world.
“The flipside is if we don’t play well we make life very hard. We have to be at our best to win.
“We took confidence from the good stuff we have done but will learn a lot from the game against Fiji as well.”
The Scots couldn’t cope with Glasgow Warriors old boy Leone Nakawara on Saturday as the lock turned on the style.
Fiji bagged tries from Peceli Yato and Henry Seniloli while Ben Volavola booted 17 points as the home side punished some Scottish indiscipline.
Townsend’s side claimed three tries through Ross Ford, Ruaridh Jackson and Fraser Brown but it wasn’t enough to salvage something.