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Scotland A thump Chile in Santiago
By PA
Damien Hoyland scored a hat-trick as Scotland A marked their first outing since 2014 by cruising to a comfortable 45-5 victory over Chile in sunny Santiago on Saturday.
George Horne and Hoyland touched down twice apiece in the first half as Gregor Townsend’s side led 28-0 at the break at Estadio Santa Laura. Chile, who face a World Cup play-off against the United States next month, were more competitive in the second half but the visitors added further tries through Hoyland, Rufus McLean and Ali Price.
It was a smooth start to the Scots’ tour of South America, although the standard of opposition is due to increase significantly when the senior side face three consecutive Tests against Argentina from next weekend onwards.
Following a cagey opening, the Scots – made up almost exclusively of Glasgow and Edinburgh players – seized the initiative after 11 minutes when Edinburgh wing Hoyland darted down the right to score in the corner after receiving a pass from debutant Ollie Smith. Ross Thompson slotted the conversion.
Five minutes later, the tourists extended their advantage after skipper Luke Crosbie barged through the Chilean defence before offloading to Horne who eased his way under the posts. Thompson added the extras.
Horne scored his second try of the match in the 22nd minute as the Glasgow scrum-half claimed possession from Matt Fagerson at the base of the ruck before stepping his way through the defence to score. Thompson was again successful with the conversion.
After Ben Muncaster and Jamie Bhatti were both denied tries when they were held up by the Chilean defence, Hoyland ensured the Scots ended the first half with another score when he ran on to a pass from Horne and nipped between the posts. Thompson kicked the conversion in the last action of a one-sided half.
Hoyland completed his hat-trick five minutes into the second half after powering his way through the Chilean resistance on the right following a Scott Cummings lay-off. Thompson missed his first conversion of the match.
The hosts came into the match thereafter and after squandering some promising opportunities, they eventually got themselves a deserved consolation try with four minutes left when Santiago Edwards powered over despite some impressive defending from Scotland replacement Price.
But the Scots ended the match on a high note when McLean and Price both touched down in the closing moments.
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Mallia deserves 8 at least. Brains and skills for the comeback. Him, Garcia and Albornoz the core of The Pumas attack. Hope to see them in the 15s against France
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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