Kyle Rowe said he was “buzzing” to have scored his first tries for Scotland in Saturday’s win over Chile, while admitting to frustration at not competing a hat-trick.
Rowe, having already scored twice, sprinted clear after gathering a clever chip from Glasgow team-mate Jamie Dobie, but was chased down by Nicolas Garafulic.
It was a heroic piece of defending from the Chilean winger with the outcome of the match long since determined.
Rowe knows he might get a few jibes from his colleagues for not finishing it off.
He said: “I’m buzzing for the win and I could have had three [tries] to be honest but got caught.
“I’m not going to live that down but to score my first try for Scotland was pretty special."
The last time Scotland were in South America, Rowe won his first cap off the bench against Argentina. That was a day of mixed emotions, though, as moments after coming on he suffered a serious knee injury that kept him out for the best part of a year.
On this trip, he scored his first tries for his country, though the former Ayr man played down his part in his two scores.
He added: “I just had the easy job of putting the ball down. All the hard work was done for me.”
Despite the one-sided nature of the result, Rowe believes the match will be beneficial for Scotland in the long-run.
One of the goals of the tour was to build depth across the board and the Glasgow man singled out two of the new caps for praise.
“You saw boys like Reedy [Arron Reed] and Gus [Warr] who have come in and got their first two caps now and it’s really good to see boys coming through playing for Scotland.
“We’ve got real strength in depth now coming through.”
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