Three weeks before Thanksgiving, the ultimate turkey shoot. This wasn’t so much attack against defence as men against boys, Scotland filling their boots as the United States quaked in theirs and tried to stem the bleeding.
Safe to say that Scott Lawrence’s Eagles were rarely successful in this quest — or any other on the night. The hosts ran in 13 tries to claim their biggest-ever Murrayfield win. Sporting their new change kit, Gregor Townsend’s charges were very much pretty in pink. When it comes to the All Blacks, however, there was only a limited amount that the Scots can carry forward to inform their preparation for next week’s Murrayfield showdown.
What they had to do they did well — very well in some cases — but so bereft were the United States that at times a set of tackle pads and rucking shields might have put up sterner resistance.
Darcy Graham claimed the headlines with his fourth Test hat-trick, which meant he ended the day as Scotland’s joint all-time leading try-scorer with 34. A double from Duhan van der Merwe, who had started the day alone at the top of that list, took him to the same number on the day he won his 50th cap. There were also excellent shifts from the debutant Liam McConnell, Dylan Richardson, Jamie Dobie (who also touched down three times), Ollie Smith and Stafford McDowall.
This looked exactly the sort of fixture Scotland might hand-pick the week before facing the All Blacks, and indeed that was exactly what had happened. But if the modest nature of the opposition gave Townsend scope to experiment, it also made it incumbent on his men to get the job done and well.
Scotland went hard and early, scoring three tries and passing up a big opportunity for a fourth inside the first ten minutes. There were key contributions from Dylan Richardson and Liam McConnell, the two new back-row faces.
Dobie breaks the tackle of Dominic Besag to score one of his three tries
NEIL HANNA/ALAMY
Richardson, the brilliantly versatile Edinburgh man, marked his first Test start at flanker by bundling over from close range after scrum power and a big pick-and-go created the initial momentum. Almost straight from the restart, and after the ball squirted out of a ruck into the hands of Jamie Dobie, McConnell sprinted up the left from his own ten-metre line, bringing the crowd to their feet.
We knew the 21-year-old debutant was quick, but perhaps not this quick, and then he wowed us all over again by dishing up a peach of a one-handed basketball pass inside to Van der Merwe, who pocketed the gift to secure a 33rd Scotland try.
Not to be outdone, Graham notched his 32nd shortly after in the wake of a Richardson turnover. Adam Hastings floated a glorious miss-pass to the right, where Scotland’s pocket rocket was poised to do what he always does in such situations.
Richardson celebrates scoring Scotland’s first try of the game to get the ball rolling after just five minutes
JANE BARLOW/PA
Speaking of little giants, Dobie has been laying claim to such a mantle with regularity of late. Here he was insinuating himself into the heart of the game again, his little midfield chip falling nicely for Graham to thunder up the middle before feeding his scrum half for the run-in. A McDowall show-and-go then bought the space for Dobie to career unhindered between the sticks and further his case to start against the All Blacks, not least with Ben White not getting much of a look in at Toulon.
That was Scotland’s sixth try, and we still hadn’t even hit the half-hour mark. The fifth had gone to Van der Merwe, who had Toby Fricker looking like a Sunday morning mini, never mind a Monday morning quarter-back, as he made roadkill of him in the corner.
The seventh was the pick of the bunch. Dobie, McDowall — with an inch-perfect pull-back — and Hastings all played their part before an impudent tip-on from Kyle Rowe gave Graham his second. It said it all that a 45-0 half-time scoreline flattered the Americans.
Van der Merwe is tackled by Dominic Besag, but the USA couldn’t prevent him adding two tries to his tally for Scotland to keep pace with Graham
ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP
Townsend made five interval changes, but it was that man Graham springing to the fore again with a hat-trick score born of a slick combination with Smith.
The Hawick flyer took his leave, George Horne coming on at scrum half with Dobie allowed to bring out the other string to his bow by moving to the wing. He was soon popping a great ball inside for Rowe to get in on the act, before McDowall, Horne and the relentless Dobie rounded things off.
McConnell had continued to stand out, winning a lineout steal before another epic breenge up the left. He has sure put himself in the picture for the bigger Tests ahead.
Star Man Liam McConnell (Scotland)
Scorers: Scotland: Tries Richardson (5min), Van der Merwe 2 (6, 25), Graham 3 (10, 36, 44), Dobie 3 (20, 27, 77), Rowe (58), McDowall (71), Horne (73), Smith (80). Cons Hastings 5, Horne 5
Scotland K Rowe; D Graham (G Horne 51min), O Smith, S McDowall (Capt), D van der Merwe; A Hastings (R Thompson 41min), J Dobie; R Sutherland (N McBeth 41min), P Harrison (H Morris 62min), D Rae (M Walker 41min), M Sykes (M Williamson 51min), S Cummings (A Samuel 41min), L McConnell, D Richardson, J Dempsey (M Bradbury 41min)
United States E Storti (T Lopeti 30min); M Wilson, D Besag, T Boni (L Carty 55min), T Fricker; C Hilsenbeck, R de Haas (E McVeigh 73min); E Lindenmuth (P Telia 47min), K Geiger (S McNulty 33min), P Davis (M Niuafe 56min), M Redelinghuys, J Damm (Capt), V Helu (T Naqali 68min), C Daniel (M Alikhan 47min), P Ryan
Referee D Schneider (Arg)