Scotland bounced back from a heavy loss to South Africa to
beat Tonga 27-3 in their Pool C encounter at the Club Atlético
Estudiantes in Paraná, recording their first win of the IRB Junior
World Championship 2010 in the process.
The two sides had met in the ninth place play-off in last
year's tournament in Japan, the Scots edging a tightly-fought
encounter 28-25 and both knew that victory was must this time out
to guarantee their place in the 2011 Championship in Italy.
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Scotland, beaten 73-0 by South Africa four days earlier,
played better as the game progressed in Paraná but still made a
number of handling errors against a Tongan outfit who imposed their
traditional style of play through their forwards.
Tonga, though, could not take advantage of their
opportunities with throws going astray in the lineouts and kicks
missing the uprights, unlike the reliable boot of Scotland fly half
Duncan Weir whose only miss was a drop goal attempt.
Weir opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a penalty
and then added the extras to centre Jonny Kennedy's 13th minute
try. Jonnie Morath-Hansen and Manu Soatame then both missed a kick,
before Weir's second penalty gave Scotland a 13-0 half-time
lead.
Both sides were guilty of making errors in the second half,
but after Soatame finally got Tonga on the scoreboard with an early
penalty, Michael Maltman and captain Stuart McInally both crossed
for tries - converted by Weir.
Tonga will get a chance to avenge this loss when the two
sides meet against in Paraná on Thursday, with the winner to face
either Ireland or Samoa for ninth place and the loser facing a
must-win encounter with the 12th ranked side relegated to the IRB
Junior World Rugby Trophy in 2011.
POST MATCH REACTION:
Scotland coach Eamon John: "We are delighted
with the win today because there was a lot of pressure on us, on
both teams having lost to South Africa and Australia. So to get the
result and the win today we are really, really pleased. We'll
look at who were are playing first and then we'll have a look
at who we need to play and try to get our preparation done from
there.
Scotland captain Stuart McInally: "I was very
happy with the way we played. We showed some real ambition in
attack and defence. I am really proud of our guys, we showed some
real character.
"Our defence won us the game and our attack could be
better. If we'd really pushed we could have gone for a fourth
try. I don't know how it will work but it could have put us in
the top eight. I am a little disappointed about that but we need to
work on our attack."
Tonga coach Nili Tu´ipulotu: "Our team
performance wasn't too bad but the Scots were better. We made a
lot of silly mistakes and we can't seem to be able to finish it
- and it has been the same for all of the tournament. Whenever we
came close to the line we lost the ball or turned it over. We have
to work on our ball security and keep it with us when we are close
to the try-line."
