Young Scottish side shows its class in rugby win over Canadian men

Scotland fell behind 5-0 early but reeled off the next 31 points en route to a 73-12 win over Canada in a rugby test match Saturday.

The 21st-ranked Canadian men were 25-1 underdogs to beat a sixth-ranked Scottish side missing many of its big names.

Despite the lack of test experience and a wobbly, penalty-filled start, the quality of the touring Scots soon shone through as Canada’s early lead turned into a 24-5 deficit at the half. Scotland then won the second half by a 49-7 margin.

Dylan Richardson, Gus Warr and Arron Reed scored two tries apiece and Josh Bayliss, Harry Paterson, Jamie Dobie, Stafford McDowall and Kyle Steyn added singles for Scotland. Ross Thompson booted five conversions while Ben Healy added four more.

Captain Lucas Rumball and Kyle Baillie scored tries for Canada. Peter Nelson kicked a conversion.

“Credit to Scotland,” said Rumball. “You make the wrong move, you make the wrong read, you make a mistake, they make you pay for it. It’s five points on the board. So we’ve got to adapt to that.”

The game was the first for the Canadians since a 40-15 win on Nov. 18 over No. 29 Brazil that snapped a four-game losing streak for Kingsley Jones’ team. The Canadian men had won just three of their previous 10 tests and haven’t beaten a team ranked in the top 20 since they defeated the United States 34-21 in September 2021.

Scotland, meanwhile, finished fourth at 2-3-0 in the Six Nations earlier this year.

With Scottish stars such as fly half Finn Russell left at home to rest, Gregor Townsend’s starting 15 totalled just 58 caps with prop Rory Sutherland accounting for 30 of them.

The Scottish starting lineup featured five uncapped players in Max Williamson, Gregor Brown, Matt Currie, Warr and Reed. Five other debutants came off the bench.

Australian-born wing Nic Benn — whose mother is Canadian — earned his first cap for Canada, with Brock Gallagher, James Stockwood, Jesse Mackail and twins Takoda and Talon McMullin making their debut off the bench.

The McMullin brothers combined to save a try, holding up Kyle Steyn at the try-line.

It was 27 C, feeling even warmer on the artificial turf at TD Place, for the 5 p.m. local time kickoff.

Canada shows resolve early

Canada showed its resolve early, kicking for touch and going after a try rather than kicking for three points when Scotland was penalized for offside near its own try-line.

Canada won the ensuing lineout and Rumball went over at the back of the maul in the eighth minute.

“We knew they were going to start hard in front of their home fans. We knew they were going to come out with a lot of energy,” said McDowall, the Scottish co-captain. “And they didn’t let us down.

“It was a bit of a wake-up call telling us we have to be on our game for the whole 80 minutes.”

Scotland answered with a multi-phase attack, pulling ahead 7-5 on a 12th-minute converted try by Bayliss after the Canadian defence was found wanting on the wing. The Canada defence was ripped open again in the 15th minute with Richardson touching down near the posts for a 14-5 lead.

The Scottish forwards powered their way to another try and a 19-5 lead in the 24th minute, with Richardson at the back of a maul from a lineout after Canada was penalized at the breakdown.

Reed, taking an acrobatic off-load from Paterson in the tackle, added to the lead in the 30th minute as Scotland took advantage of an overlap in attack.

Scotland added to the lead with an early try by Warr. Baillie then went over for Canada after a Rumball quick-tap penalty with the Nelson conversion cutting the lead to 31-12

The visitors responded with tries by Warr, Reed, Paterson, Dobie, McDowall and Steyn.

Scotland came into the game having won four of five career tests against Canada, including the last three meetings: 48-10 in Edmonton in June 2018, 19-17 in Toronto in June 2014 and 41-0 in Aberdeen in November 2009. Canada won 26-23 in Vancouver in June 2002.

The teams were competing for the Douglas JL Horn Memorial Cup, which was first played for in 2008. The cup was sponsored by the late Alan Horn, who named the trophy after his father and former Scottish rugby player, Douglas Horn.

Canada hosts No. 20 Romania at the same venue on Friday. Romania edged the 17th-ranked U.S. 22-20 on Friday in Bridgeview, Ill.

The touring Scots face the U.S. next in Washington, D.C., before playing No. 23 Chile and No. 18 Uruguay.

Saturday’s game was the 80th test in charge of Scotland for Townsend (44-35-1). It was a 42nd outing for Jones, who has 12 wins as Canada’s coach.