The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
19 24
Having beaten Australia, Scotland’s next task is to complete a clean sweep of their summer tour by adding Fiji to their list of scalps.
So says Hamish Watson, the Scotland flanker fresh from scoring the winning try for Gregor Townsend’s side in Sydney.
“Fiji in Fiji is not going to be an easy test,” he accepted. “They have some amazing players and away from home it will be very tough to beat them.
“We will enjoy the win against Australia but then put it to one side and concentrate on the Fiji game because they pose a lot of threats.
“The win against Australia was amazing. It is great for Scottish rugby and great for all the supporters. An amazing victory, definitely my career highlight.”
It was also something of a personal triumph for Watson, who has broken into the Scotland side only in the last year. He was one of Scotland’s main ball-carriers and helped lead the defensive effort before and after popping up on the shoulder of centre Duncan Taylor to run in the final score of the game.
“When we looked after the ball we scored tries,” he said. “That try was an amazing build-up by the boys. It was great play by Lee Jones and Duncan Taylor, and pretty easy for me to finish it off. The game itself was probably was a bit scrappy at times.
“We had a quick word immediately after it but we will analyse it, come back together and speak about it. I think we left a few tries out there.
“Our defence was awesome but we could have scored more tries. Sometimes we didn’t look after the ball as well as we should have. We are still pretty new to the systems – it’s only Gregor’s second game with the squad – and we will keep building. It’s good to have things to work on after a great win.
“When we held the ball the Aussies looked out on their feet at times.
“If we can just look after the ball a bit better and become more comfortable with the systems, then that will all come together.”
His standout performance puts a high-profile finish on Watson’s breakthrough year, in which his rise to the top has coincided with the team starting to flourish.
“It has been great for me and for Scottish rugby,” he said.
“If you look at what we did in the six nations, we got ourselves to fifth in the world and now we are building on it, beating Italy in tough conditions and Australia in Australia. It’s a good time for all the players and supporters.”
Next stop Fiji, where the heat and a host of familiar faces in the opposition team – Leone Nakarawa and Niko Matawalu both made their names at Glasgow Warriors while Viliame Mata is at Edinburgh – will make life tough but Scotland arrive with confidence boosted by the weekend victory.
Townsend was a happy and proud man after watching his players beat Australia.
British and Irish Lions call-up Finn Russell signed off from Scotland duties