Careless Scots run out of Toon
Gregor Townsend was gutted that a sloppy Scotland show wrecked his dream of an unbeaten first tour as boss.
Toony’s men won the try count three to two but their discipline was poor.
Ross Ford, Ruaridh Jackson and Fraser Brown all crossed the line for Scotland against a Fiji side who were simply flying.
The hosts were inspired by the bri l l iant handl ing of Leone Nakarawa, scoring memorable tries through Peceli Yato and Henry Seniloli, with Ben Volavola kicking 17 points.
Townsend had seen his side defeat Italy and pull off a stunning victory over Australia on this tour but they were unable to make it a clean sweep.
He said: “We did not play as well as we have done but credit to Fiji, they played some outstanding rugby, particularly in the second half and were tough to handle.
“For us to win Test matches we have to play really well, as we showed against Australia, but we missed too many tackles and Fiji came alive.
“Also we have to look after the ball in our attack – too many balls were lost in contact with the wet ball. I’m really disappointed.”
A number of the Fijians showed just why they are among the most sought-after players in Europe.
But there was a degree of irony in the fact that the torturer in chief was Nakarawa, who Townsend had plucked from the Fijian sevens line-up while he was at Glasgow and turned him into one of the world’s great locks.
Toony added: “There were a number of Fijians who played really well and Leone was an outstanding example of that.
“He is probably the best second row in the world, certainly the best offloading second row.
“At times we defended him well and managed to close him down but at other times he kept his energy and offloading ability and he created a fantastic try.”
Scotland skipper John Barclay was also hurting.
He said: “It was physical but we could not exert control.
“Last week, when we got back into it we had a calm nature about us. This week we did not hold on to the ball very well, we didn’t make the right decisions with the ball and when we did we didn’t move well with it.
“We didn’t play smart rugby. We played right into their hands at times. We’d get into the right