Scotland demolish Samoa

tries after half-time ensuring the extra point they craved.

The Scots now move up to third in the Pool A behind Japan and Ireland after two games each.

Under the closed roof at the Misaki Stadium, the conditions were as hot and as steamy as a sauna, as stifling and as suffocating as a greenhouse in the Edinburgh Botanics on a hot summer's day. The ball was slippy and passes went down. Lots of them. The organisers of this World Cup have erred here. Enclosing this ground was a strange call.

Scotland endured the most miserable week, but had an anger and a focus about them that stood out a mile. They promised a reaction to the awful loss against Ireland and it was obvious from early on that they were going to deliver it. A new wing, a new centre partnership and a whole new back row, the Scots had energy and aggression by the bucketload, the very qualities that were desperately lacking in their opening game in Yokohama.

That fourth try came late, but it was deserved. Scotland kept their nerve and produced a stirring performance, the kind of battling effort that marks them out as not quite dead in this pool.

It was an extraordinarily nervous and difficult night in the conditions, but they emerged. They had to sweat, literally and metaphorically, but they showed huge character and hunger and got the job done.

They went ahead early through a Laidlaw penalty and took a firm hold of the Test. They won the collisions, an absolute must against Samoa, and even though their early dominance took a while to get converted into points, they always looked threatening. The bar of soap that passed as a ball was part of the problem. -

BBC.