Scotland versus Tonga, Rugby Park Saturday 22 November 2014
Scotland banished the ghosts of the Granite City with a superb 37-12 victory over Tonga in Kilmarnock on Saturday.
Rugby Park made history by becoming the first ground to stage a Tier one Test match on a 4G artificial pitch.
Tries from Man-of-the-Match Blair Cowan, Stuart Hogg, Alex Dunbar, Geoff Cross and – who else – Tommy Seymour, who scored in all three Autumn Internationals. Fly half Latiume Fosita kicked all of Tonga’s 12 points
Scotland shut the southern hemisphere team out in the second half in an impressive display of defence and attack in a game which saw both teams get a player sent to the bin and littered with penalties and handling errors.
The build up to the match was taken up with the 21-15 loss to the Polynesian outfit two years ago that cost Andy Robinson his job.
On that day at Pittodrie, Tonga outscored Robinson’s hapless team two tries to nil and had three players yellow carded and had as little as 40 per cent in possession and territory.
This time it would be different as Vern Cotter’s side ran in five tries and conceded none but the game was in the balance at half time with the teams two points apart at 14-12.
By the end, the result was emphatic. The home team were once again applauded as they left the field and rightly so after the country’s best Autumn International series in years.
Cotter was forced into four injury-forced changes to his starting XV and they did not disappoint. Johnnie Beattie was a powerhouse, not flinching in the face of the physical onslaught.
Sean Lamont’s experience of these types of brutal encounters with the islanders was valuable, Cross capped off a good day with a try and Tim Visser returned to have a solid match.
The visitors were first on the board when Scotland were penalised at a ruck in for being offside. Fly half Fosita kicked the pen.
Scotland hit back immediately after a series of penalties against the visitors led to a five-meter lineout from which Tonga captain Nili Latu was yellow carded for an illegal entry to the maul.
After several attempts at a driving maul, Cowan scored when Scotland’s pack steamrolled the opposition. Greig Laidlaw added the extras and the home team led 7-3.
Scotland’s excellence in this area throughout the Autumn Internationals has been a revelation and can be the bedrock for next year’s Six Nations challenge.
The Scots, however, were guilty of giving away penalties in kickable positions. Fosita added six points in quick succession to put Tonga back in front 9-7 after 23 minutes.
Scotland’s man advantage only accounted for one point. Cotter will need to drum into his chargers the importance of possession and using the extra man to control the game.
Referee JP Doyle was getting a workout with the amount of penalties he was awarding and his patience was waning. Dunbar’s dangerous tackle earned himself ten minutes on the sidelines.
Tonga now had the extra man and soon stretched their lead to five when Fosita kicked his fourth penalty to make it 12-7.
A lovely dink from the skipper almost set Visser away but for a tackle in to touch from full back Vungakoto Lilo.
The game was opening up, both teams trying to hit the ball up through the midfield. With eight minutes to the break Lilo lost the ball in the tackle and Hogg ran the full length of the pitch and score under the posts.
Laidlaw’s conversion put the home team back on top at 14-12.
Under the New Zealand-born coach, Scotland are dangerous on the counter attack and are making a habit of punishing the opposition’s mistakes.
Good teams are ruthless and covert half chances; this team is doing precisely that but handling errors were again letting the team down.
Jonny Gray’s pop-pass to the scrum half could not hold onto the ball and knocked on with the try line beckoning.
An untidy first half left the game equally poised. Both coaches would be telling their teams to cut out the errors.
The second half started much the same as the first with penalties coming thick and fast. Four minutes in Fosita had a chance to put his team one point in front but missed from forty meters out.
It was a costly miss. Scotland won a penalty in their own half, kicked to the corner, won a lineout, drove into the 22, Dunbar beat the last defender to score in the corner.
Laidlaw missed the conversion but Scotland led 19-12 and starting to turn the screw.
Confidence was high now and after a neat back row move, Scotland punched through the phases and were rewarded with three more points form the boot of their captain after the South Sea Islanders Infringed at the ruck.
With a ten-point cushion and the game starting to open up, Scotland would need to control the pace of the game, keep possession and they would gain a comfortable win.
Maybe it was the 4G surface but neither side was content to play the percentages, instead, opting to run the ball from their own territory but mistakes habitually hampered the game’s flow.
Scotland won a scrum penalty; Laidlaw kicked the three and the lead extended to more than two scores to 25-12 with 15 minutes remaining.
It was soon 32-12 and game over when Cross burrowed over from close range. The TMO was needed to confirm the score. Another conversion put the match beyond a doubt.
The 16,026 fans inside Rugby Park urged their team for more try and cries of “Scotland” rang around the old ground as well as the national anthem.
Tonga, under increasing pressure in all departments, folded. The fifth and pick of Scotland’s tries came three minutes from time.
After a melee in Tonga’s 22, the forwards recycled the ball, Finn Russell, whose cross field kick was spilled in the in-goal area but reclaimed by Tommy Seymour to touch down: Easy as you like.
Russell’s missed conversion attempt but Scotland had avenged their defeat in Aberdeen in some fashion.
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