Fiji ....................... 51

Scotland ............. 26

SCOTLAND'S tour got off to the worst start imaginable in Fiji yesterday as indecision and hesitation cost them dearly against a side who were more direct, more enterprising, and ultimately far more ruthless.

A historic day for the Fijians was one that every Scot who was in Suva will want to erase from the memory. Perhaps the tourists' biggest relief is that problems caused by local technicians mean they have no immediate video evidence to survey.

Indeed, with such a youthful party, the management might have difficulty getting any tape of this performance past the censors such was the degree of horror as what began by looking like a routine win was transformed into a shocking defeat.

Throughout this match Scotland won a good supply of set-piece ball, but fecklessness in contact situations, allied to that uncertainty in the decision making areas, was to let the Fijians into the match.

''We had good control early on, but didn't take our chances when we should have. There was a rustiness about our play,'' coach Jim Telfer assessed.

Fair comment, as far as it goes, without telling the whole story. Clearly lessons have been learned from past tours, when individual players have been blamed from within the camp to the detriment of morale.

Ironically, the most glaring example of that was when Gregor Townsend was singled out following his efforts in the first Test defeat in Argentina in 1994. Ironically, because Townsend put in another dreadfully disappointing showing against Fiji yesterday.

Much was expected of his renewed partnership with Bryan Redpath, the pair having been at the heart of Scotland's last great win, over France in 1996, in a season in which their efforts, more than any, took the side to a Grand Slam decider against England.

Yesterday, though, they had to shoulder much of the blame for Scotland's failure to threaten the Fijian backline. Other than some powerful running from Ian Jardine and occasional well-timed interventions by Derrick Lee, the backs were largely ineffective.

''We won enough ball, but just weren't taking the game forward. We were playing behind the gain line most of the time,'' said Telfer. ''It's very, very difficult if you don't have variations in your attack to be able to break down a defence like that and that comes from the half-backs as much as anybody.''

That was the closest Telfer came to outright criticism of any player, but Scotland simply did not perform either as a unit or as individuals.

Captain Rob Wainwright accepted that, observing that having set out their stall with a controlled first 15 minutes, Scotland were sucked into playing the game Fiji's way. As so often in the past we tried to play it loose, but the Fijians are an awful lot better at that than we are,'' he said.

''We made mistakes and they made mistakes, but they capitalised on ours.''

Any nerves should have settled after Lee put over two penalties in the opening two minutes and, after Nicky Little put Fiji on the scoreboard, the full back re-established Scotland's six-point lead.

However, the shape of things to come was outlined early in the second quarter, when Townsend passed to no-one and winger Fero Lasagavibau grabbed the loose ball to score an unconverted try. A fourth Lee strike was followed by one of the few Fijian tries created by their own good play.

Full back Jonetani Waqa hit the line at pace to open up Scotland's midfield defence and found support from Aisea Tuilevu, who juggled his way across the line for the first of a hat trick of tries.

Two minutes after the restart, flanker Apisai Naevo found a route down the blindside while Tuilevu's other scores, both run in from his own half within three minutes, put the game beyond reach. First, Scotland turned the ball over at a ruck and the winger's pace left the cover trailing.

Then, Townsend tried to force a basketball-style pass to Jardine, the centre failing to cope with the awkward trajectory and providing Tuilevu with another gift. Before that, however, came the game's highlight, almost inevitably produced by Fiji's favourite son Waisale Serevi when, just two minutes after coming on, he sold Cammy Murray a dummy before scorching away from Eric Peters' attempt to cover to put Waqa in.

Although there were second half tries for debutant Hugh Gilmour and Gordon Bulloch, their misery was completed by the unlikely sight of prop Joeli Veitayaki hitch-kicking his way across the line and tellingly the home crowd's mood at time seemed more bemusement at the ease of victory than euphoria.

Scorers: Fiji - Little 1p, 1c, Lasagavibau 1d, Tuilevu 3t, Naevo 1t, Waqa 1t, Serevi 4c, 1p, Veitayaki 1t. Scotland - Lee 4p, 2c, Gilmour 1t, Bulloch 1t.

Fiji - J Waqa, F Lasagavibau, M Nakauta, S Sorovaki, A Tuilevu, N Little, S Rabaka, J Veitayaki, I Rasila, M Taga, S Raiwalui, E Katalau, A Naevo, M Tamanitoakula, A Mocelutu. Replacements - W Serevi for Little (50min), J Raulini for Rabaka (79), S Saumaisue for Tamanitoakula (50), I Tawake for Mocelutu (62).

Scotland - D Lee (London Scottish), H Gilmour (Heriot's FP), C Murray (Hawick), I Jardine (Stirling C), S Longstaff (Dundee HSFP), G Townsend (Northampton), B Redpath (Melrose), G McIlwham (Glasgow Hawks), G Bulloch (West), M Proudfoot (Melrose), S Grimes (Watsonians), S Murray (Bedford) , R Wainwright (Dundee HSFP), A Roxburgh (Kelso), E Peters (Bath). Replacements - R Shepherd for Jardine (22-33min), M Stewart for Proudfoot (60), S Campbell for Murray (70).