OUR DEFENCE MADE IT TOO EASY AND NEEDS FIXED

I PREDICTED we would get excitement under Gregor Townsend but maybe not quite as much as this, with 11 tries in the match and the most points ever scored in an international at Murrayfield. It was a strange game. The first half never had any flow or rhythm and the second half was crazy, with the last 15 minutes almost like a basketball game. There was some good attacking shape and we should never be disappointed when Scotland have scored six tries, but it is the defence that will cause Townsend most discomfort. It was too easy for Samoa. Just about every time they got into Scotland’s 22, they scored and didn’t have to do anything particularly innovative. They ran hard and tight and the Scotland fringe defence could not stop them. The pack looked a bit lightweight when trying to stop the Samoans, so I imagine there will be some serious work done on the training pitch this week to fix this. There was a lack of intensity in the Scottish defence as a whole and the defence coach, Matt Taylor, will be praying that this returns for the All Blacks. Of course it will — because Scotland are playing the best team in the world and will raise their game accordingly. But it would be good, for all our blood pressures, if they could do that against any opposition. At 32-10, just a few minutes into the second half, the game was done and dusted and I fully expected Scotland to coast home. They dropped off mentally, maybe thinking the job was done, and this allowed the Samoans to come back into it. This will have been a good lesson for the team and the coaches. It will have told them that everyone has to be physically and mentally right for Scotland to get their game working. It will have to be right this Saturday, that is for sure!