A sluggish Scotland continued their summer tour of the Americas with a comfortable but unconvincing 52-11 win over Chile.
Glasgow duo Jamie Dobie and Kyle Rowe both scored twice as the tourists ran in eight tries in Santiago as Gregor Townsend’s men continued their unbeaten summer.
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How the Scotland players rated in summer tour win over Chile
The home side took an 11th minute lead as Santiago Videla landed a 40-metre penalty after Ben Healy was penalised for not rolling away in the tackle.
Scotland had spurned maul opportunities inside the home 22 either side of the opening score, but did hit back through Josh Bayliss, the Bath number eight powering over from close range. Healy converted.
No sooner had a penalty from fly-half Tomas Salas cut the Scottish lead to a single point than the visitors struck once more, a lovely pass from Sione Tuipulotu putting his Glasgow colleague Kyle Rowe over for his first Scotland try. Healy again converted for 14-6.
Flanker Gregor Brown then showed a turn of pace to outstrip the home defence as he burst clear from the restart but couldn’t find Jamie Dobie out wide.
The makeshift Scotland wing only had to wait a couple of minutes before an opportunity came his way, a change of direction from Healy and another looping pass by the Edinburgh fly-half put Dobie over. Another conversion from Healy took Scotland’s lead to 21-6.
Dylan Richardson was held up over the home try line shortly before the break as Scotland took a15-point lead at the break.
That advantage grew further when Dobie rounded off a well-worked backs move from a lineout deep inside the Chilean 22 to score his second.
Chile made changes early in the second period, and they paid immediate dividends when hooker Diego Escobar latched on to a maul and shrugged off Gus Warr to drive over.
A well-placed kick from Kyle Rowe almost set Scotland away again and when Chile infringed, Dobie went hunting his hat-trick only to be turned over by home captain Martin Sigren 5m from his line.
Matt Currie scored his first try for Scotland shortly after his introduction while Rowe added his second in a carbon-copy of Dobie’s second score with 15 minutes to go.
Dylan Richardson added a seventh try with four minutes left and Steyn’s score with time up sealed victory and took Scotland over the half-century.
Here are five things we learned.
Chile are better than their world ranking suggests
Los Condores are ranked below two teams Scotland have beaten in comprehensive fashion in the past 12 months, Romania and Canada, but they showed more promise here than either of the other sides managed when they faced Gregor Townsend’s team, though they faded badly in the second half.
Scrum good, lineout less so
Scotland put Chile under serious pressure at the scrum as the home side leaked penalties, but the lineout – an area of concern for too long – faltered again as the visitors coughed up three early opportunities.
It stabilised in the second half – and Patrick Harrison can be pleased with his involvement on his first cap – but Scotland must cut out the errors at their lineout.
Jamie Dobie making himself a viable option on the wing
The versatile Glasgow Warrior was asked to play on the wing in key games by Franco Smith, including the URC semi-final and final wins, and with another good showing here, he will be giving Townsend a headache about his best position. Scotland have plenty of depth both at scrum-half and on the wing, but Dobie’s versatility could come in handy during the Autumn or Six Nations.
Impact from the bench
Gregor Townsend made a raft of replacements early in the second half, introducing Adam Hastings at fly-half and Steyn back to the wing. Almost instantly, Matt Currie broke and scored his first international try.
Harrison’s break on the hour led to Escobar’s yellow card and McDowall offered himself as a carrier at 12 after replacing Tuipulotu.
Better will be required in Uruguay
Gregor Townsend said during the week he felt the South American leg of the tour would be more challenging than games against Canada and USA. On the evidence of this, he was right, but his side must also deliver much closer to their best if they are to finish the tour unbeaten in Montevideo.
Uruguay pushed France hard at the Rugby World Cup and Scotland will need to cope without their exiles, unavailable as the match falls outside World Rugby’s Test window.
Chile: Diego Warnken, Cristobal Game, Domingo Saavedra (B Videla 72), Santiago Videla (Larenas 44), Nicolas Garafulic, Tomas Salas, Lucas Berti (Torrealba 18); Javier Carrasco (Lues 46), Augusto Bohme (Escobar 46), Matías Dittus (Gurruchaga 60), Clemente Saavedra, Javier Eissmann, Martín Sigren (c), Raimundo Martínez, Alfonso Escobar
Try: Escobar (50)
Penalties: Videla (11); Salas (27)
Yellow card: Escobar (60)
Scotland: Kyle Rowe, Jamie Dobie, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu (McDowall 60), Arron Reed, Ben Healy (Hastings 51), Gus Warr (Currie 51); Nathan McBeth (Schoeman 51), Dylan Richardson, Will Hurd (Sebastian 51), Alex Craig (Harrison 46), Ewan Johnson, Gregor Brown (Williamson 60), Jamie Ritchie (Darge 72), Josh Bayliss
Tries: Bayliss (21), Rowe (29, 64), Dobie (34, 45), Currie (58), Richardson (73), Steyn (80)
Conversions: Healy (22, 30, 35); Hastings (59, 66, 80)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
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