Gregor Townsend lauds Scotland debutants after USA record win but ensures All Blacks will offer a 'different' test
In Scotland’s biggest ever win at Murrayfield the Scotland coach was particularly impressed with two debutants.
The Scots defeated the USA 85-0 in a Murrayfield annihilation, which included 13 tries and two hat-tricks.
Darcy Graham and Jamie Dobie both scored three times, while Duhan Van Der Merwe notched a brace on his 50th Scotland appearance. Dylan Richardson, Kyle Rowe, Stafford McDowall, George Horne and Ollie Smith all got in on the act to complete the whitewash.
With the All Blacks up next, it’s hard to compare the two opponents. The USA just gifted Scotland their biggest ever Murrayfield win, while the All Blacks are a side they’ve not beaten in their history. Despite the gulf in class, Townsend is taking a few positives from the USA rout into next week.
Edinburgh flanker, Liam McConnell impressed on his debut and was playing like a back rower against the USA. The 21-year old showed some great hands to give the ball to Van Der Merwe for his first try. Harri Morris also impressed in his first Scotland appearance, having came off the bench.
Townsend impressed by ‘excellent’ McConnell
The Scotland boss said: “he was excellent. It's very difficult to do that on your first cap. The first ten minutes of my own first cap were a nightmare. I missed tackles and it was all over the place. Liam has many strengths: his work rate, his speed, his defence. But also his attacking games really come on this year with his little tip passes, his evasion and link play.
“And he managed to be that set-piece, blindside flanker at lineout time and get a couple of steals. So yeah, he did an excellent performance, bringing out those strengths. He showed his fitness by being one of our best players in the last ten minutes as well as the first ten minutes.
“I also thought Harri was very good. He was controlled in his actions and was still able to bring that physicality that we know is a big strength of his. He had a couple of really good lineout throws and caught a high ball.”
Despite the record win the Scotland boss was refusing to get carried away with the New Zealand fixture next week, who will no doubt be a different animal. He said: “you've just got to deliver your actions, your performance, regardless of who the opposition is. But we obviously know New Zealand are going to test us in different ways than the USA weren't able to do tonight.”
‘A special day’ - McDowall
After Van Der Merwe’s milestone, plus the exploits of the two debutants, Scotland captain on the day, Stafford McDowall reflected on an emotional day for some of his teammates. He said: “It was great fun. I think we talked about it before the game, just going around and everyone focused on doing their own role. It was obviously a special day for Duhi (van der Merwe, 50th cap) and the boys getting their debuts.
“We wanted to make it a special day for them and I think you saw the effort and the physicality of the boys playing when we did that. It's actually something we touched on a bit during the week with a sports psychologist just saying that if they got an early score, if we got a couple of early scores, it didn't matter, we just reset and went back to our process. I thought we were really clinical with our exits.
“We didn't try to push it too early and play to width and play around them. It was really good, we stuck to the system. Probably the most pleasing part is when we scored, we exited really effectively. In games in the past, looking back to that Portugal game last year, we probably lost control of the game a little bit in the last 20 minutes and let them back from a couple of soft scores.”