A FORGETTABLE

Ten tries and eight debutants but the big guns will return for Aussie challenge

FOR the eight new Scotland caps, Saturday’s demolition of Tonga will be a game they remember forever. For the rest of us? Not so much.

That is not to say that it was not great entertainment. Who could complain as Gregor Townsend’s youthful side destroyed their weakened opponents with no little flair and firepower? Ten tries from the home side certainly sent the Murrayfield crowd — back in attendance for a Scotland game for the first time since the pandemic began — home happy.

Yet, in terms of the immediate challenges to follow, namely back-to-back Tests against southern-hemisphere powerhouses Australia and South Africa, Townsend would not have gleaned too much from the performance.

Yes, it was encouraging to see the likes of Rufus McLean and Kyle Steyn in full flow — and a deepening of the talent pool with the 2023 World Cup in mind is no bad thing.

But wholesale changes will no doubt follow for the Aussies’ visit on Sunday, and it is these next two Tests where Townsend will learn more about where his current side is in terms of their development.

The head coach would likely have picked his match-day squad to take on the Wallabies long before the game against Tonga had even kicked off as Dave Rennie makes his return to these shores with a side who twice defeated the World Champion Springboks in the recent Rugby Championship.

All of the Scotland exiles who weren’t available for Saturday’s mismatch because the fixture fell outside the international window will return. Finn Russell will replace Blair Kinghorn at fly-half while captain Stuart Hogg will take over from Darcy Graham at full-back.

McLean may have scored two tries on his debut while on the other wing Steyn became the first Scot to score four tries in a full Test match at Murrayfield but neither are likely to start against Australia. British and Irish Lion wing Duhan van der Merwe will return, with Graham moving from full-back to the other wing.

Perhaps two from the eight new caps will have a chance of starting: prop Pierre Schoeman and centre Sione Tuipulotu.

Schoeman got a try on his debut and looked mobile around the park, but Jamie Bhatti has credit in the bank with Townsend and may just get the nod ahead of him.

Australian-born Tuipulotu is a class act and the type of player that can be used as a battering ram to open space up for others. With another Lion in Chris Harris and Sam Johnson plus Matt Scott also in contention, picking the starting two centres against the Wallabies is Townsend’s toughest call.

The best the rest of the debutants can hope for is a place on the bench, with second-row Jamie Hodgson possibly making the replacements ahead of Rob Harley as Townsend is short of options in the second row.

Grant Gilchrist and Sam Skinner both missed the Tonga game but should start, with Scott Cummings and Ben Toolis injured.

Richie Gray turned down a call up for Tonga as he felt he wasn’t in the ‘right condition’ to play, according to Townsend. The door had been left open for the Glasgow Warriors lock for the rest of the series but whether he returns to the squad remains to be seen.

A definite positive for Scotland is that flanker Hamish Watson played his first game at any level after a nagging groin problem kept him out of action since the British and Irish Lions tour in the summer. He was taken off at half-time as planned to keep him fresh for the Australia match.

Afterwards, Townsend admitted the display, despite the ten tries, ‘wasn’t good enough’. And Ali Price — who co-captained Scotland against Tonga with Jamie Ritchie — agreed with his head coach that there had to be an improvement against Australia.

‘All week, we trained well, with good tempo and pace, and it was good to see us take that on to the field and get our rewards for it,’ said Price (left).

‘You can always take positives and negatives from every game and a big thing we took away from Saturday was that our discipline wasn’t good enough in terms of the amount of penalties we gave away in the areas that we did against Tonga. ‘If we do that in a game where the score is a bit closer, that

could cost us. Defensively, we maybe need to get our width a bit better too because if the opposition execution had been slightly higher, we’d have got stung a couple of times.

‘The attack was pretty good at times but there are always things to improve. We’ll have to play better against a higher-ranked team and we know what a big test it’s going to be. But we’ll have a full complement in the squad with everyone available for selection, and a full BT Murrayfield. If you can’t get excited about that, you’re in the wrong job.’

Price said he was proud to be have been co-captain, although Hogg will take over the role as sole captain against the Wallabies.

‘I loved the co-captaincy,’ said Price. ‘It was a very special moment for me being stood in the tunnel, up the front, and all I could see was the pitch and the opposite stand with all the people there.

‘It really sunk in at that point what was about to happen. It was an incredibly proud moment for myself and my family in the crowd.

‘I think the division of duties between me and Jamie worked well. It was quite a natural split in terms of one of us being a forward and the other a back.’

By half-time on Saturday, the game was over, with Scotland 36-9 ahead at the break. Two early tries from McLean, one from Schoeman and a hat-trick from man-of-the-match Steyn made the second half a formality.

It felt like that, too, with Scotland clearing their bench to give every single one of their eight replacements a chance to play.

Discipline was poor at times, with experienced second-row Harley picking up a yellow card for not rolling away. Tonga’s David Lolohea went over for their own try when the home side were down to 14 men.

More tries did come for Scotland with George Turner, who has emerged as first-choice hooker ahead of former Scotland captain Stuart McInally, going over as did Steyn for his fourth.

Nick Haining and Oli Kebble also got on the scoresheet. Kinghorn put over three conversions, with his replacement at ten Ross Thompson putting over two others on his debut.

There were no huge cheers at the end because the result was never in doubt but if Australia are beaten on Sunday, the capacity 67,400 crowd will make themselves heard. Indeed, that would really be one to remember.