Scotland cruised to a comfortable win to open their South American tour against an overmatched Chile in Santiago, but a poor second half will have the coaching team scratching their heads.
They didn’t give out caps for this game in unfamiliar territory. But there was welcome returns in Scotland colours for Damien Hoyland and George Horne, who shared five of the seven tries.
Hoyland bagged a hat-trick, but his third score five minutes after half-time was the Scots’ last score until Rufus McLean raced over the in the dying minutes.
Ali Price added a last-play try to make the scoreline comfortable, but Chile got most of the plaudits in the second 40 for their resilience and refusal to buckle.
Same issue as the Six Nations
Damian Hoyland with the first try of the night for @Scotlandteam! 🏴
Slick passing out wide and an easy finish for the @EdinburghRugby man 👏 pic.twitter.com/KB4fhXIQN5
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) June 25, 2022
For 45 minutes Scotland had put the World Cup hopefuls to the sword, but as has been the case recently they failed to fully exploit their dominance.
Loose and unstructured play, too many questionable off-loads and – in keeping with the season’s narrative – too many silly penalties blunted what should have been a romp.
Chile’s defence had been a feature of their World Cup qualifying win over Canada, But the Scots punched hole after hole in it during the first half.
Scotland quickly saw Chile were defending the inside channels with their front row forwards and poured through almost at will. Ross Thompson’s break through a huge gap between props should have produced an early try but for a knock-on.
The Scots scored after 11 minutes, a strong maul followed by a very familiar backs move with full-back Ollie Smith coming into the line to put Hoyland in at the corner. The wing had scored in his last international, five years ago against Italy in Singapore.
George Horne’s quickfire double
🏰 @EdinburghRugby's Damien Hoyland goes over again for Scotland A!
There's been some heroic goal line defending from Chile, but it's a 28-0 lead for the visitors at HT 🏴 pic.twitter.com/OnshE18wXX
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) June 25, 2022
Five minutes later captain Crosbie swatted off a tackle from the Chilean tight-head and burst through. Horne was inevitably in support to score easily under the posts.
The former Howe of Fife man added his second and Scotland third’s with a dart after a dummy after the Scots softened up the home side with a maul and hard carries.
Chile couldn’t get out of their own half, but they hung on grimly, twice holding the Scots up over the goal-line.
But on the brink of half-time, more power carries by the Scots pack wilted the Chileans’ resolve. Horne’s neat short pass sent Hoyland in on a perfect line under the posts, and with Thompson’s fourth successful conversion, it was 28-0 at the break.
Hoyland’s hat-trick score just after the break required him to do the hard work, taking a off-load from Scott Cummings with 30 metres to go. He cut inside one defender, beat another and was held by a third, but stretched well for the try.
A poor half-hour in the second half
What a way to wrap things up 🔥#AsOne pic.twitter.com/SRKqBFv22K
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) June 25, 2022
The Scots then got far too loose trying to counterattack on every ball from all parts. Chile’s scramble defence was excellent, especially after clean breaks from Rufus McLean and Magnus Bradbury.
After huffing and puffing without any real reward, the Scots threw on their experienced bench for the final ten minutes. But Chile were admirably resilient and took the game to their visitors.
Their try from back rower Santiago Edwards with three minutes left was just desserts for Los Condores.
However the try seemed to suck all the energy out of the Chileans, and the Scots made the scoreboard look a bit more comfortable with the late McLean and Price tries.
Chile: Urroz; N Garafulic, Casas, Ayarza, M Garfulic; Fernandez (capt), Torrealba; Carrasco, Dussailant, Lastra; Pedrero, Saaverda; Edwards, Silva, A Escobar.
Replacements: D Escobar (for Dussailant 26), Lues (for Carrasco 40), Gurruchaga, Orchard, Martinez (for Silva 40), Larenas (for Torrealba 60), Videla (for Escobar 50), Herreros.
Scotland A: Ollie Smith; Damien Hoyland, Matt Currie, Sione Tuilupotu, Rufus McLean; Ross Thompson, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, Dave Cherry, Javan Sebastian; Jamie Hodgson, Scott Cummings; Ben Muncaster, Luke Crosbie, Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: Jonny Matthews (for Cherry 53), Pierre Schoeman (for Bhatti 69), Murphy Walker (for Sebastian 58), Glen Young (for Cummings 53), Magnus Bradbury (for Fagerson 53), Ali Price (for Horne 69), Blair Kinghorn (for Thompson 69), Mark Bennett (for Currie 69).
Ref: Adam Jones (WRU)