Graham equals record as nine-try Scotland beat dogged Portugal

Autumn Nations Series: Scotland v Portugal

Scotland (33) 59

Tries: Hurd, McDowall, Penalty, Graham, Bayliss, Bhatti, Reed 2, Dobie Cons: Hastings 5, Jordan

Portugal (7) 21

Tries: Begic, Marques, Storti Cons: Marques 3

Darcy Graham equalled Duhan van der Merwe’s Scotland try-scoring record in a comfortable nine-try victory over Portugal at Murrayfield.

The Edinburgh winger, with his 29th Test try, was one of five Scotland scorers in the opening half after Will Hurd got the show on the road. Captain Stafford McDowall, a penalty try and Josh Bayliss also struck for the hosts, with Portugal hooker Luka Begic replying before half-time.

Prop Jamie Bhatti scored his first international try on his 35th appearance shortly after the restart. After Portugal scored again through scrum-half Samuel Marques, Scotland hit back.

Aaron Reed scored twice in three minutes to push Scotland beyond the half-century mark before teenage flanker, Freddy Douglas, became the youngest Scotland debutant in more than 60 years.

Scotland won handily but there were many causes for concern. The excellent Raffaele Storti went over for Portugal’s third try just short of the hour after Scotland’s awful line-out malfunctioned again. Gregor Townsend’s side had the final word though as Jamie Dobie went over for a ninth home try late on.

Portugal had been terrific at the World Cup last year, but only nine of the 23 who had pulled off a famous victory against Fiji in France were at Murrayfield. With more time together you could see how much potential they have.

Hurd barged over after three minutes and captain McDowall ran away to score not long after. Portugal had risked a ropey offload in the tackle and the Glasgow centre mopped up.

It was frantic and messy but Scotland slowly gained composure and piled on the points. Just before the half hour they muscled their way to a penalty try from a driven line-out with blind-side flanker Duarte Torgal getting binned for his sins.

Portugal suffered while Torgal was away. George Horne did brilliantly to keep a touch-bound Portugal kick in play and from there Graham slalomed his way over. Rory Hutchinson’s lovely pass out the side door put Bayliss free up the right wing. Adam Hastings’ conversion made it 33-0.

There was a moment of joy for the visitors when Begic took advantage of a dozing Scotland and sneaked over from a close-range line-out just before the break.

A sixth Scotland try came early in the new half when Horne intercepted and darted away. He was hauled down short of the line but in the next phases Bhatti powered over to make it a 31-point game.

Scotland feel they were the victim of a harsh red card against Scott Cummings in the Test with the Springboks last week, but they were lucky here on a couple of occasions. Graham might have binned for a deliberate knock-on and then a Portuguese player was taken out in the air at a line-out. Again, no card.

Still, Portugal found a way to execute via a big scrum under the Scottish posts that sent the hosts backwards. Horne went too high in his tackle on scrum-half Marques and over he went.

This was not exactly what Townsend was looking for ahead of the Australia game next weekend, but they stirred again and finished powerfully.

Reed scored two in three minutes, the second one following a stripped ball by Elliot Millar Mills which put Scotland on the front foot. When Reed got it on his wing, he stepped and flew away to the try-line. That was a fourth try in three Tests for the speedster.

Douglas came off the bench to a huge ovation, but Storti scored almost immediately. Dobie polished off the scoring on what was a high-scoring but scrappy afternoon for Townsend’s team. They will finish off their autumn with what promises to be a thumping Test against the Wallabies next Sunday.

Scotland: Jordan, Graham, Hutchinson, McDowall, Reed; Hastings, Horne; Bhatti, Harrison, Hurd, Craig, Samuel, Crosbie, Muncaster, Bayliss.

Replacements: Matthews, Sutherland, Millar Mills, Johnson, Douglas, Dobie, Currie, Rowe.

Portugal: Bento, Storti, Lima, Appleton, L. Martins; Cabral, Marques; Costa, Begic, Hasse Ferreira, Madeira, Torgal, An. Cunha, N. Martins, Couto.

Replacements: Ab. Cunha, Vicente, Prim, Andrade, Baptista, Campos, Aubry, Cardoso Pinto.

Referee: Takehito Namekawa