Tourists pile up the points but then let Victoria dominate second half Scotland win - but miss out on a try spree

They did the groundwork early on, subduing what early enthusiasm there was from slightly overawed opponents and by half-time had built a commanding 25-6 lead.

With that advantage rapidly built to 36 points, we anticipated the try spree that would rebuild Scottish confidence and perhaps send some sort of message to the slightly contemptuous folk in New South Wales, that these tourists would, after all, provide a true challenge.

Instead, in the closing quarter, Scotland scarcely touched the ball as Victoria, inspired by replacement Karl Tora who, aptly enough, announced his presence with an explosive torpedo tackle, dominated, and claimed a consolation try that was no more than they deserved.

In a well-appointed stadium where a crowd of around 2000 barely registered a presence, Scotland had failed to drive home their superiority against a state only beginning to make some sort of attempt to compete with the rival attractions of Australian Rules Football and rugby league.

So much so that Victoria captain Stuart Brown felt that once his side had got over their early inferiority complex, they had proved themselves as capable as their visitors.

''As a team we were a little bit intimidated in the first half. We were probably waiting for them too much to see what they would do.

''But I don't think the score gives a fair representation of the game.

''We could have beaten them if things had gone our way,'' he said, claiming that his side won the second half, which could only have been a statistical exercise based on territorial advantage and possession, since it was not reflected in the scoring.

His assessment was about as realistic as Scotland's implication, after the Fiji match, that the South Sea Islanders had won only because of a series of breakaway scores.

In both cases the winners were flattered by the try count - in Fiji's favour 7-2 and in Scotland's 6-1 - but in each the difference was attributable to greater ruthlessness when presented with chances.

A further parallel was the impression that both Fiji, last Tuesday, and Scotland, on Saturday, could probably have run in more tries.

A more telling point was made, however, by the Victorian coach John Kelsey after his side's first match in almost a month.

''It's very much an amateur game down here, with no professionalism at all,'' he said.

Kelsey felt that, on the evidence of what he had seen from what was largely a second string line-up, but which none the less performed much better than the senior side had in Fiji, Scotland face a torrid time travelling through Australian rugby's heartlands.

''They are going to have a hard time,'' he reckoned. ''New South Wales and Queensland play at such a frenetic pace, they don't give you any sort of latitude.''

Certainly this performance was still a long way short of what will be required against New South Wales Country and New South Wales over the next six days.

''There was a bit of rustiness, but that's no excuse,'' said the captain for the day, Stuart Reid, one of several who achieved his pre-match objective of placing pressure on the senior squad.

''They came back into it well and deserve credit. You have to remember that they were playing for their pride as well. But we are an international team and were far superior. It should have been a 50 or 60-point win.''

Scotland's two main successes were men returning to the southern hemisphere. Glenn Metcalfe's inventive running was the most encouraging aspect of Scotland's back play.

Fellow native New Zealander Gordon Simpson, meanwhile, a Scot of three months' standing, put in a performance which vindicated his claim that he would be a better player when surrounded by team-mates of higher quality.

Though not the fleetest of foot for an open-side flanker, his guile in finding short-cuts around the pitch is comparable with that of fellow squad member Simon Holmes.

More eye-catching, though, was his touch in keeping the ball alive and providing openings for team-mates, his link work being directly responsible for the first-half tries scored by Alan Bulloch and Rowen Shepherd.

Scotland coach Jim Telfer was unusually generous in publicly congratulating both, to the extent that his praise for Simpson could be seen as a response to the player's perceived lack of popularity among some colleagues following his spectacularly quick inclusion in the senior squad.

''Simpson was outstanding,'' said the coach, who added: ''I haven't seen much of Metcalfe and was quite impressed. He's a find.''

Though less than stylish, Scotland took control in the first quarter with two Duncan Hodge penalties against one success from Jack Goodman, before some solid rucking and recycling created an overlap, allowing Simpson to put Bulloch into the right corner.

Late in the first half the result was put beyond doubt. Metcalfe claimed the first of his tries on what was, to that point, a rare attack down the left.

Then Shepherd finished off a fine counter-attacking move, begun by Reid and continued by Stuart Grimes and Bulloch, before Simpson's deft handling put Grimes into space, in turn releasing the born-again centre.

Metcalfe's second try, a minute into the second half, was largely a solo effort and looked to have set Scotland up nicely.

Yet they could produce no more than two further tries, which came in the space of three minutes. First was Cammy Mather capping a sound performance by driving over rather too easily from a close-range penalty taken by Graeme Burns. The scrum-half was another who performed solidly and his well-timed pass put Hodge in for his fifty-fifth- minute try which completed Scotland's scoring.

Scorers: Victoria - Frater 1t; Goodman 1c, 2p. Scotland - Bulloch 1t; G Metcalfe 2t; Shepherd 1t; Mather 1t; Hodge 1t, 3c, 2p.