Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
McInally knows work is needed
STUART McInally was not totally satisfied after Scotland’s rugby win over Samoa, even though his two tries helped set up Saturday’s 44-38 success at Murrayfield.
The hooker t ook f ull advantage of Ross Ford’s injury to turn out a Man-ofthe-Match performance with two tries but saw the hosts concede five times in an 11-try thriller.
Scotland were not at their best all afternoon and looked as t hough t hey could have been heading for an embarrassing defeat after the Pacific Islanders clawed their way back from 32-10 down.
McInally, earning his first cap for over a year, said there was plenty of work to be done before the visit of New Zealand this week.
“It was 32-10 when I went off, with a bit of breathing space,” he said. “But it was a concern how quickly they responded to our tries.
“We’re disappointed but, in a way, it’s probably better than it going perfectly at the beginning.
“Ahead of this week we have a lot to work on. We’ll look at our defence and, in particular, our defence in our 22. They seemed to score a wee bit too easily so we’re happy. However, there’s a lot to improve upon.”
He added: “It was very frustrating that whenever we had the ball and held onto it, we were either scoring or getting a penalty. Likewise, whenever Samoa had it, it was the same.
“We will need to fix things for this week. We need to work on looking after the ball.”