Scotland 56-0 Tonga: report and player ratings as Autumn Nations Series concludes with whitewash Murrayfield victory

Scotland start and end their Quilter Nations Series with a whitewash after a comfortable 56-0 win over Tonga.

It would be a memorable day for veteran hooker George Turner as he earned his 50th cap for his country and was rewarded with a try. Jamie Ritchie, Max Williamson and Duhan Van Der Merwe also got on the scoresheet. Replacements George Horne and Ewan Ashman scored a brace each to close the game out.

Gregor Townsend described the Murrayfield reaction to last week’s Argentina collapse as an ‘exhale of disappointment’, but in simple terms, they were booed off after blowing a 21-0 lead. Against a side ranked 19th in the world, below USA who Scotland beat 85-0 in the tournament opener, while perhaps not getting himself fully back in the good books of the Edinburgh crowd, at least Townsend’s men were able to end on a high going into the Six Nations.

After a deflating past two weeks there was a sense of negativity around the ground pre-match but as the visitors performed the Sipi Tau, the Murrayfield crowd responded to the challenge with a roar. Scotland may have been clear favourites to win the game, but the towering figures of Ben Tameifuna and Siua Maile would be enough to put fear into any side based on body mass alone.

The hosts enjoyed some early pressure but Tonga displayed some good early defence when John Tapuelluetu brought Kyle Rowe out of play in what was a try-saving tackle. However after failing to clear their lines from the resulting line-out, a number of attacking Scottish phases led to a sin bin for Tonga flanker, Semisi Paea.

Despite defending valiantly and holding Scotland up on a number of occasions a man down, Ollie Smith found a gap in the visitors defence to give the crowd something to get behind. A few phases later, the experienced Jamie Ritchie touched down for the first try of the game. After Fergus Burke added the extras it was a double whammy for Tonga, as Paea’s yellow got upgraded to a 20 minute red.

Moments later, Duhan Van Der Merwe showed that he can be trusted under the high ball despite being dropped in recent weeks for Kyle Steyn. The winger plucked Burke’s punt from the air and put on the burners to breakthrough the Tonga defence. After good carry from Magnus Bradbury, the ball made its way to Turner, who will be happy to get on the scoresheet in a milestone match.

With only a minute until Paea rejoined the match, Scotland took further advantage of the extra man on the 20 minute mark when the long arms of Max Williamson squeezed the ball over the line. After a lengthy conversation with the TMO, referee Jac Ramos eventually awarded the try.

After last week, being 21-0 up may have triggered some bad memories for Scotland fans, who would’ve been even more worried when Tonga fly half Patrick Pellegrini completed a 50-22, however the Scots were able to hold firm at the back and clear their lines after regaining the ball from the lineout.

Just before half time, Scotland were asking for a penalty try after a number of Tonga penalties, however it did result in a yellow for second row Veikoso Poloniati. From the following phase, the visitors defended well to prevent a Scotland try and go into half time 21 down.

As the second half started Townsend decided to change his front row as the experienced Zander Fagerson came off after his first start of the campaign after a lengthy injury. Alongside Turner and Rory Sutherland the tight end came off to a standing ovation. Tonga started the second half just like they finished the first with yet another yellow card. This time it was winger Taniela Filimore who was sent to the bin.

As Tonga had yet another player sent to the bin and went down to 13, Van Der Merwe got in on the action with a typical, solo powerful run to get through the defence. Burke once again added to extras to maintain his 100% record.

The extra men were starting to pay dividends as the substitutes combined for the fifth try of the game. Tonga had dealt with the Scotland maul well all afternoon, but were unable to keep them out in the 65th minute when Ashman found his way over the line after a good lineout take from Marshall Sykes. Minutes later some quick hands from Kyle Steyn helped breakdown Tonga, who passed to Horne for an easy score. With Burke now off, he then converted his own try.

With five minutes to go, Horne doubled his tally after some nice work from Ritchie. The veteran flanker has made his case that he should be starting in the Six Nations next year. In the dying minutes, Ashman made it a brace apiece for the replacements as the score surpassed the half-century mark.