IF you were neutral, or even a Scotland fan who just wanted to see an entertaining game of rugby at Murrayfield yesterday, then you would not have been disappointed with what the Scots and Samoa served up.
It was like watching a basketball game; you score, we score, you score, and repeat. In fact, you’d have thought both teams had stuck a wee wager on which side could clock up 50 points first, except neither were quite sure if it was easier to score or concede.
Given all the trials and tribulations they face, especially financially, the Samoans deserve a mention.
They were better organised than I thought they would be, but almost appeared to thrive on adversity and turned in a performance that very nearly got them an unexpected result. They were big and physical up front, and really fancied it against a Scottish pack, which after a good enough start, really found themselves being bogged down by the amount of defensive work they had to carry out.
Samoa didn’t appear tired. Their fitness levels were good, as was their temp and they kept going all the way. Against a team with a better bench, we wouldn’t have won.
There will be some tired and sore Scottish bodies this morning, that’s for sure and the ice machine might be working overtime.
The Samoans pushed Scotland close, but they could have done better had they not turned possession over by kicking the ball aimlessly away. To be fair, Scotland were guilty of that, but I think it proved more costly for the visitors as it gave Scotland a chance to counter attack from deep.
Like all of the islanders, Samoans take a lot of stopping because their strength, coupled with their body position, make them very difficult to halt, and nearly impossible to stop when they get within touching distance of the line.
They did well. But from a Scottish perspective, that was not a good sign given who we will face in a week’s time. Samoa are good; the All Blacks will take that up a few levels, especially with the lift they will get by watching a replay of this game.
When analysing this game, Gregor Townsend might want to look at the video a couple of times, checking out or weaknesses, that nearly cost us, but also viewing some of the good stuff we played.
Our first-up tackling, which is where you stop your opponent before they make the gain line or punch your defensive line, has to be better. Again, remember who we play next Saturday.
For me, we need to be smarter with our kicking game. I thought we kicked the ball away too much, often in tight or confined areas which meant it came straight back at us.
Yes, that ploy kept us going forward at times when he targeted the right areas. But I think we might have made it easier for ourselves, over the 80 minutes, if we’d just gone through the phases, improved on our ball retention, and shown a bit of patience. We would still have got over the line, maybe not as often, but then we wouldn’t have Samoa coming back at us either.
We also have to remember that Gregor Townsend’s hand was forced in some ways because of who he had – or didn’t have – on the bench.
It was quite an inexperienced list of replacements – just look at how many debutants came on – and that was at a time when Samoa were really fancying it, and we needed to be calling upon experience. There isn’t much Gregor can do, if he has been hit by injuries, or if players need experience, or particularly given the schedule, remembering he’ll be wanting his best XV from the off against New Zealand.
At international level, one of the hardest things you can do is be a replacement or substitute, because it is almost impossible to be up to pace. And when it is your first cap to boot, that is a really big task. All of that contributed to making it a tight squeeze for the Scots.
However, all of that aside, there are positives we can take from this win. Six tries are not to be sniffed at. We scored a couple that were forward-orientated.
But our backs showed how dangerous they could be in open play. Stuart Hogg’s opening try was down to Tommy Seymour having the wherewithal to kick back infield to give supporting runners half a chance. And while our wingers didn’t really have much to play with, mostly getting their scraps from chasing punts and kicks, Lee Jones showed great hands to put Alex Dunbar in.
Pete Horne was on the ball carriers shoulder so he could take an inside pass and bring it home, but once again, the classiest score came from Huw Jones. The boy just oozes confidence, and you could see by the way he got past a couple of tacklers with some fast footwork, with little room to work in, that he has got everything a great player needs. Five tries in nine games says it all.
And five out of ten is what I’d give that Scotland performance. That wouldn’t come near to marking New Zealand next week.
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