Canada 10-48 Scotland: George Turner hat-trick sees Scots win
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 10/06/18 8:55am
A rare hat-trick for Scotland's replacement hooker George Turner led the way as his team eased past Canada 48-10 in Edmonton in the first match of their summer tour.
Turner, who plays for Glasgow Warriors, becomes the first Scotland player in 11 years to score a hat-trick, with all three coming at the back of mauls.
This turned out to be a true killer weapon for the Scots, who controlled the game through their forward strength before cutting loose in the final minutes to finish with seven tries.
It may have been a new-look Scotland side - with two new caps, plus 10 players with 10 caps or fewer - but it did not take them long to stamp their authority on the game, with James Lang almost going over in the second minute. They had a penalty coming anyway and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne duly added the points.
Lang, one of the new caps, was soon at it again, throwing a howler of a pass but then recovering the ball and using the disruption to throw the ball over the Canada defence for wing Byron McGuigan to score his third Scotland try in his fourth match.
Canada edged their way back into the game with a penalty from fly-half Shane O'Leary on their first excursion into Scotland territory as the game settled into something of a stalemate.
Scotland thought they had scored their second try when Ruaridh Jackson broke down the blindside but he was ruled to have touched down short of the line and lost control of the ball as he rolled it onto the whitewash.
Even against 14 men, with Canada prop Noah Barker in the sin bin for an off-the-ball tackle on Allan Dell, his opposite number in the front row, the Scots were struggling to find gaps even though they were dominating in terms of territory and possession.
They did eventually increase their lead when a rolling maul took the ball almost to the line and Jackson slipped into a huge gap round the blindside, with Hidalgo-Clyne landing the conversion.
That was it for the half, which ended with Scotland messing up a line out on the home line but making up for it when they got the same move right in the opening move of the second half - Turner, the replacement hooker, the one with the ball.
Canada hit back with their best spell of the game, scrum-half Phil Mack being held up over the line.
The pressure continued until Jackson was ruled to have deliberately knocked on a potential scoring pass to Canada's wing and captain DTH van der Merwe. He got a spell in the sin bin and Canada got a penalty try.
There was a notable moment when Adam Hastings, son of Scotland and Lions captain Gavin, came on early in the second half to win his first cap.
Scotland continued to pressure Canada and Blair Kinghorn came close before Magnus Bradbury eventually finished the attack with his first Test try.
They had another potential try chalked off on a television review, this time for prop Murray McCallum, but soon made up for it when Turner was mauled over the line and a few minutes later he repeated the feat to complete his hat-trick.
Lewis Carmichael, the replacement lock, added the final try to celebrate his first cap as Scotland completed their rout just short of the 50-point mark.
Scotland face USA in their next Test on Saturday, June 16.
