Match Report: Scotland 59-21 Portugal
16 Nov 2024Scotland scored nine tries as they eased past Portugal to make it two wins from three in this year’s The Famous Grouse Nations Series.
The hosts’ first serious attack reaped the game’s opening points. From a line-out, Adam Hastings threatened but was stopped short and after a couple of close-range pick-and-go efforts, Will Hurd emerged from the debris with his first Scotland try [5-0, 4 mins].
When Stafford McDowall was named captain earlier in the week, it would have been the proudest day of his rugby life and he added a souvenir by way of a try when collecting the ball around halfway from a dropped Portuguese possession, racing home for his second try in dark blue. Hastings converted from bang in front [12-0, 12 mins].
A combination of a Portuguese defence that leapt out the line and a Scottish attack perhaps trying too hard to engineer add a third try led to an early stagnation in proceedings but when Hastings found touch for an attacking line-out, such a score was inevitable.
And were it not for Portugal second row Duarte Torgal earning a yellow card as the Scottish maul was about to strike, Patrick Harrison would have surely dotted down. Instead, referee Takehito Namekawa had had enough, awarding the penalty try [19-0, 26 mins].
Portugal tried to rally and found good field position from an attacking line-out on the Scottish 22, but a simple obstruction penalty put paid to their designs of retaliating with points.
The Scottish Gas Murrayfield crowd – some 61,000 of them – seemed desperate for Darcy Graham to entertain them and after 34 minutes, he did just that. After some terrific work from George Horne, keeping the ball on the pitch using some form of contortion, Graham stepped and jinked his way through a bamboozled Portuguese defence to score his 29th Scotland try, a record he now holds with contemporary Duhan van der Merwe. Hastings converted for the third time [26-0, 34 mins].
Josh Bayliss then got in on the act, the No. 8 taking a delicious offload by Rory Hutchinson to barrel over in the right-hand corner. Once more, Hastings converted, taking him to 150 points for his country [33-0, 37 mins].
There was time left for Portuguese celebration, who finished off a tidy line-out maul to get his side on the scoreboard, scrum-half Samuel Marques converting well from wide to draw a lively half to a close.
Half-time: Scotland 33-7 Portugal
Scotland started the second period with the same intent with which they had attacked in the opening 40 and straight away, George Horne couldn’t have gone closer to scampering over on his first home start after collecting a spilled ball in midfield.
Jamie Bhatti, on his 35th appearance for Scotland, then barged over for his first international try shortly after [38-7, 43 mins].
Portugal woke the crowd up when, with a penalty coming from an attacking scrum, scrum-half Marques nipped over, converting his own score [38-14, 54 mins].
That seemed to shake Scotland into life and it was Arron Reed with his side’s seventh, the winger haring home from just inside the Portuguese 22 with Hastings adding a fifth conversion [45-14, 59 mins].
And Reed doubled up minutes later when he cut inside from a Matt Currie ball, Hastings once more proving neat from the tee [52-14, 62 mins].
Shortly after, Freddy Douglas became Scotland’s youngest male cap in 61 years, the Edinburgh Rugby 19-year-old giving a puff of his cheeks as he entered the international fray.
Portugal then added their own third try through winger Raffaele Storti with Marques keeping his 100% record intact with the conversion [52-21, 67 mins].
Jamie Dobie showed his customary instinct with a close range effort, with Tom Jordan converting and in turn scoring his first points for Scotland [59-21, 72 mins].
Full-time: Scotland 59-21 Portugal
Scotland: Tom Jordan (Glasgow Warriors), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh Rugby), Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints), Stafford McDowall (Glasgow Warriors, captain), Arron Reed (Sale Sharks); Adam Hastings, George Horne (both Glasgow Warriors); Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors), Patrick Harrison (Edinburgh Rugby), Will Hurd (Leicester Tigers), Alex Craig (Scarlets), Alex Samuel (Glasgow Warriors), Luke Crosbie, Ben Muncaster (both Edinburgh Rugby), Josh Bayliss (Bath Rugby).
Replacements: Johnny Matthews (for Harrison, 66 mins) Rory Sutherland (for Bhatti, 50 mins) (both Glasgow Warriors), Elliot Millar Mills (Northampton Saints) (for Hurd, 50 mins), Ewan Johnson (Oyannax) (for Craig, 50 mins), Freddy Douglas (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Muncaster, 66 mins), Jamie Dobie (Glasgow Warriors) (for Horne, 58 mins), Matt Currie (Edinburgh Rugby) (for Hutchinson 58 mins), Kyle Rowe (Glasgow Warriors) (for Hastings, 66 mins).
Portugal: Simão Bento, Raffaele Storti, José Lima, Tomás Appleton, Lucas Martins; Domingos Cabral, Samuel Marques; David Costa, Luka Begic, Diogo Hasse Ferreira, José Madeira, Duarte Torgal, André Cunha, Nicolas Martins, Frederico Couto.
Replacements: Abel de Cunha, Pedro Vicente, António Prim, António Rebelo de Andrade, Vasco Baptista, António Campos, Hugo Aubry, Manuel Cardoso Pinto.
Referee: Takehito Namekawa (JPN)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce, Anthony Woodthorpe (both ENG)
TMO: Brian McNeice (IRE)
FPRO: Mark Patton (IRE)
Attendance: 60,983
Player of the Match: Tom Jordan (Scotland)
