Replacement McGuigan key in Scotland’s record 5324 win over Australia
EDINBURGH: Late replacement Byron McGuigan scored a brace of tries as a rampant Scotland showed excellent enterprise to complete a record 5324 victory over 14man Australia in their Autumn International at Murrayfield yesterday.
McGuigan was thrust into the side for his first test start when influential fullback Stuart Hogg injured his hip in the warmup, and provided two fine finishes to go with scores for halfback Ali Price, wing Sean Maitland, lock Jonny Gray, centre Huw Jones, flanker John Barclay and hooker Stuart McInally.
Ragged Australia’s tries came from a brace by centre Tevita Kuridrani, fullback Kurtley Beale and a late score via replacement loose forward Lopeti Timani, but it was also its own worst enemy with some poor handling and a deserved red card for prop Sekope Kepu just before halftime. The sendingoff shaped the contest.
Coupled with its 306 loss to England the previous weekend, Australia has sustained backtoback record defeats. It was its second loss to Scotland, this year following a 2419 defeat in Sydney in June.
For Scotland, it is also the most points it has ever managed in a game against one of the major southern hemisphere rugby nations.
Livewire winger Elliot Daly scored two excellent tries as England overcame a stodgy middle period to produce another strong finish and beat Samoa 4814 at Twickenham in London to complete a hattrick of victories in its autumn internationals.
Mike Brown, Alex Lozowski and Charlie Ewels had a somewhat experimental England 227 ahead at halftime and it piled on the points in the final quarter as Daly (twice), Henry Slade and Semesa Rokoduguni completed the rout.
It was far from plain sailing, however, as England was secondbest at the breakdown all day and for long periods struggled to impose itself on a team beaten by Romania last week.
Ireland completed a clean sweep of November test wins yesterday with a mostly novice backline at international level, coming through with a relatively comfortable 2819 win over Argentina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
With one eye on the 2019 World Cup, Ireland coach Joe Schmidt used each member of his squad over the course of wins against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina, with second row James Ryan and wing Jacob Stockdale in particular laying down a marker for next year’s Six Nations.
‘‘We’re blooding young players. It’s three wins from three. There are elements that we’ll improve on but it’s a nice stepping stone for us come February,’’ Ireland captain Rory Best said in a pitchside interview.
South Africa overran Italy 356 in Padova yesterday with five converted tries, avenging its shock loss to the Azzurri last year and notching up its first backtoback wins since August.
The Springboks, who have struggled this year against toptier teams, offered a very different performance to last year’s shambolic effort, controlling the game and using their big forwards as battering rams on a wet and foggy afternoon.
It was the visitors’ second straight win after a onepoint victory over France last week. The last time they had strung two victories together was against Argentina at the start of the Rugby Championship three months ago. The pack scored four tries, overpowering the Italians in the ruck and maul, while manofthematch first fiveeighth Handre Pollard was flawless off the tee. He kicked four conversions, and his late replacement, Elton Jantjies, kicked the final two points.
Yu Tamura botched his chance to give Japan a famous victory over France when he missed a simple conversion late on in a 2323 draw at the U Arena in Paris, a result that drew boos on the final whistle from frustrated home fans yesterday.
France has won just three of its 11 tests in 2017 and was fortunate not to suffer its most humbling reverse yet as first fiveeighth Tamura lined up a 74thminute conversion with the scores level.
The kick was just to the left of the posts, one that Tamura would expect to make comfortably, but the miss allowed the home side to escape with a draw as it managed to survive more pressure from the visitor in the remaining minutes. — Reuters