Scotland 59-21 Portugal: Hosts produce dominant display as Darcy Graham equals Duhan van der Merwe’s national try record – Eurosport

Scotland bounced back from their 30-15 defeat to world champions South Africa with a nine-try victory over rugby minnows Portugal in the Autumn Nations Series at Murrayfield.

Gregor Townsend’s men, with 14 changes made from the punishing loss to the Springboks, scored four fine tries and a penalty try in the first half, with Will Hurd (4′), stand-in captain Stafford McDowall (12′), Darcy Graham (34′) and Josh Bayliss (38′) all going over before Luka Begic powered off a maul in the 43rd minute to boost the visiting side’s mood at half-time in a 33-7 lead for the Scots.

The visitors remained undaunted in the second period as they added two more tries via the finishing power of Samuel Marques (55′) and Raffaele Storti (67′) to secure a record score against a home nations side.

But Scotland ended their day with four more tries of their own in the second period as Jamie Bhatti (44′), Arron Reed (59′, 62′) and Jamie Dobie (73′) extended the winning margin.

Scotland, who opened the Autumn Nations Series with 57-17 win over Fiji a fortnight ago, also handed 19-year front row Freddie Douglas a full professional debut, the youngest player to achieve the feat for the national side since Donald White in 1963.

Scotland were far from perfect in a comfortable if sometimes careless outing before 60,000 fans in Edinburgh, but will again make changes when they host a rejuvenated Australia a week tomorrow at Murrayfield.

It will be a different side that steps out at Murrayfield next Sunday, but a randomly malfunctioning line-out and a scrum that was demolished by Portugal’s own take on the ‘Bomb Squad’ provide plenty of talking points for Townsend’s squad before the Wallabies arrive in the Scottish capital for next Sunday’s Test match.

They were also boosted by Edinburgh winger Darcy Graham equalling absent team-mate Duhan van der Merwe’s national try-scoring record in bringing up his 29th try for Scotland.

“We’ve had some really good games against Australia over the last few years, tight games mainly,” said Townsend. “Joe Schmidt’s teams always try to play rugby and keep possession. They’re a quality side with all the players they wanted to select available. We know they’re a top five side, and we’ll have to play our best rugby to win.”

Only his third match for the national side, but the full-back looks like he has been performing in the dark blue for years. The only player retained from the South Africa defeat, Jordan is clearly made for his vocation in life after posting some more staggering figures with 13 carries, 137 metres made and six tackle breaks summing his excellence ahead of the Australia test to come.

Scotland: S McDowall 7, T Jordan 8, R Hutchinson 7, A Reed 7, D Graham 7, A Hastings 7, G Horne 7, J Bhatti 7, P Harrison 7, W Hurd 7, A Craig 7, A Samuel 7, L Crosbie 7, B Muncaster 7, J Bayliss 7

Portugal: S Bento 7, R Storti 7, J Lima 7, T Appleton 6, D Cabral 7, L Martins 7, S Marques 8, D Costa 7, L Begic 7, D Hasse Ferreira 7, J Madeira 7, D Torgal 7, A Cunha 7, N Martins 7, F Couto 7

4′ TRY! SCOTLAND (HURD) 5-0 PORTUGAL So much pressure already coming on that visiting defence in Scotland’s first visit to the 22. After a couple of attempts to push over the line, Will Hurd is the man to get the ball down for five points. Hastings missing the conversion.

27 TRY! SCOTLAND 38-14 PORTUGAL (MARQUES) Samuel Marques does brilliantly to race over after Portugal change their entire front row which demolishes Scotland’s scrum. What a move that is! Abel da Cunha, Pedro Vicente and Antonio Prim came on to help the visitors demolish the home defence. Easy conversion too.

34′ TRY! SCOTLAND (GRAHAM) 26-0 PORTUGAL Visitors all over the show in defence as Graham scurries through three Portugal chasers to score a brilliant try. Accepts the pass from Horne and that equals the national record for tries on 29. Hastings with the conversion.

40 TRY! SCOTLAND 33-7 PORTUGAL (BEGIC) A huge celebration from the small posse of visiting fans as Begic spins off the back of the rolling maul to rampage over for their first try of the day. Bento thought he had scored on the other side, but it was brought back for a penalty advantage and the Scots couldn’t hold out. And that is the half-time whistle!

55′ TRY! SCOTLAND 38-14 PORTUGAL (MARQUES) Samuel Marques does brilliantly to race over after Portugal change their entire front row which demolishes Scotland’s scrum. What a move that is! Abel da Cunha, Pedro Vicente and Antonio Prim came on to help the visitors demolish the home defence. Easy conversion too.

73 TRY! SCOTLAND (DOBIE) 59-21 PORTUGAL Reed almost dancing through for another try on the first phase attack from the scrum, but the power game pays off for Scotland as Dobie picks up to finish off another fine move. Jordan adds the conversion to extend the gap.

79′ PORTUGAL SO CLOSE TO ANOTHER TRY! But a TMO call denies the visitors after the referee decided no try initially. Not sure how Darcy Graham managed to hold that up with Baptista all the line like a rash! But he did. Huge frustration for the visitors chasing a fourth try.