Injuries sour Scotland's glory

Beattie and Cusiter carried off

Scotland underlined their burgeoning stature with a well-taken 34-22 victory over a game Pacific Islanders side at Murrayfield on Saturday. But the win, in which the hosts had led 31-5, was marred by injuries to Johnnie Beattie and Chris Cusiter, both of whom now look doubtful for Scotland's match against Australia next week.

Whether the Scots have returned to the path that they slide off in the late nineties is still a matter of debate, but Frank Hadden's men have produced enough evidence to suggest that this revival could blossom into a bright new era.

True, the Pacific Islanders are not quite the All Blacks, but they put up a decent if disjointed fight. What was impressive about Scotland was their ability to dictate terms.

The Islanders did excel in one area of play and that was their intuition on the counterattack, but rugby depends on a lot more than pure god-given ability.

The Islanders' lack of together-time was evident for long passages of play, passes checked their receivers and defensive patterns lacked cohesion. But these guys can put passes together and threatened the comeback of all comebacks before the Scots managed to put a lid on the gathering storm.

Plenty of column inches had been dedicated to the Islanders' love of running but it was Scotland who made the more enterprising start even though that adventure came at quite a price.

Johnnie Beattie was forced to exit the stage in the eighth minute of the game with an ankle injury and the gloom grew deeper as Chris Cusiter followed the No.8 to the medical tent just seconds later – a sad moment for a man keen to reassert himself on the Test stage after a long injury-enforced absence.

But Marcus Di Rollo soon lifted Scottish spirits by punctuating good approach work from his forwards with an easy try born of lackadaisical defending. Chris Paterson converted in the shadow of the uprights.

The forwards spied a chink in the Islanders' armoury and began to turn the screw with a series of handsome driving mauls.

With the Islanders in reverse, Mike Blair – on for the luckless Cusiter – decided to ship the ball wide, and a brilliant miss-three pass from Dan Parks found Dave Callam – on for the luckless Beattie – who slid into the corner for Scotland's second try; Paterson added the extras with a fine conversion.

Scotland had their tails up now and began to play wide rugby, with Simon Webster to the fore.

The Islanders did what they could with limited possession, but their efforts lacked cohesion. Frustration got the better of the tourists and Epi Taione was soon trudging off to the sin-bin for killing the ball.

Scotland made good use of their numerical advantage; Kelly Brown broke off the back of a driving maul to score and he was soon followed by Andrew Henderson who snaffled a try on the back of another fine break from Webster.

Paterson converted both tries to leave Scotland 28-0 up after just 28 minutes. It seemed Christmas had come early.

But the locals were unable to maintain the momentum and a poor clearance from Parks gifted the visitors a line-out on the blue 10-metre line.

With a sniff of a score, island intuition kicked into gear and fine handling across the backline allowed Rupeni Caucaunibuca to stroll in for a try on his opposite wing.

Tusi Pisi missed the difficult conversion and Paterson drew the first half to a close by slotting a 42-metre penalty. At 31-5 up at the break, Scotland's half-time oranges must have tasted very sweet indeed.

Credit to the Islanders, they could have easily thrown in the towel but they exploded into the second period, scoring two tries in the first five minutes.

Kameli Ratuvou was the first man over the whitewash after he scooped up spilt Scottish possession to poach an unconverted try.

Then Caucaunibuca gave birth to a length-of-the-field try, scored by Daniel Leo, that owed its metamorphosis to the natural dexterity and vision of the tourists.

But Pisi failed to land his conversion yet again, with Parks doing well to charge down his kick at goal.

Scotland tried to lure their increasingly confident guests into a pitched battle, but the Islanders were having none of it. Great handling and Caucaunibuca's phenomenal strength almost produced another long-distance try, but Sean Lamont performed miracles in defence.

Scotland put their thinking caps on and Parks began to play for territory, but quick throw-in after quick throw-in kept island fires burning. They were beginning to click.

Then, in the manner of stern parents, Scotland stamped order on the raucous proceedings, confining their rowdy guests to their own half via boot and brawn.

Lome Fa'atau almost got over the line at the end of one of a handful of jail-breaks, but good cover defence took him into touch.

Di Rollo added a drop-goal in the closing stages of the game, but it was the Islanders who had the last word as Ratuvou picked up his second try of the day after collecting his own grubber.

Pisi finally found his range with the conversion, but it was too little too late.

Man of the match: Plenty of fine individual performances from the Islanders, but this award must go to a Scot. Kelly Brown had an industrious day on the openside, Sean Lamont was a rock in defence and Marcus Di Rollo held the backline together. But our man of the match is Simon Webster whose adventurous running lines out-islanded the Islanders.

Moment of the match: Could it be Rupeni Caucaunibuca's first touch? Or Seru Rabeni's pile-driving tackle on Simon Taylor? We'll opt for the free-flowing build up to Leo's try.

Villain of the match: Epi Taione earned a yellow-card, but it wasn't evil incarnate. No award.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries: Di Rollo, Callam, Brown, Henderson
Cons: Parks, Paterson 3
Pen: Paterson
Drop goal: Di Rollo

For the Pacific Islanders:
Tries: Caucaunibuca, Ratuvou 2, Leo
Con: Pisi

Yellow card(s): Taione (Pacific Islanders) – killing the ball, 25

The teams:

Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson (captain), 14 Simon Webster, 13 Marcus Di Rollo, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Kelly Brown, 6 Simon Taylor, 5 Scott Murray, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Alastair Kellock, 19 Dave Callam, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Phil Godman, 22 Hugo Southwell.

Pacific Islanders: 15 Norman Ligairi, 14 Lome Fa'atau, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Elvis Seveali'i, 11 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Moses Rauluni, 8 Epi Taione, 7 Nili Latu, 6 Viliami Vaki, 5 Daniel Leo, 4 Simon Raiwalui (captain), 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Taufa'ao Felise.
Replacements: 16 Aleki Lutui, 17 Justin Va'a, 18 Ma'ama Molitika, 19 Semo Sititi, 20 Junior Poluleuligaga, 21 Seremaia Bai, 22 Seru Rabeni.

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Alan Lewis and George Clancy (both Ireland)
TMO: Hugh Watkins (Wales)