KEY POINTS:
Tryscoring doubles from winger Drew Mitchell and prop Rodney Blake have helped Australia A to a convincing 44-20 rugby win over Scotland A in Scotland this morning.
It was an impressive way for the Wallabies' mid-weekers to end their month-long European tour, with fullback Cameron Shepherd and halfback Brett Sheehan also crossing in the six-try rout.
Shepherd finished with a personal tally of 19 points from his try, four conversions and two penalty goals.
Scotland A had opened the scoring through a 2nd-minute penalty goal to five-eighth Gordon Ross but it was pretty much one-way traffic after that.
Two Shepherd penalties gave Australia A a 6-3 advantage after 13 minutes. It was a lead the John Muggleton-coached side would never lose.
Busy flanker Stephen Hoiles was a first-half standout for Australia A, making a series of strong runs and also putting winger Mitchell in space with a sweet pass.
Fittingly, it was Hoiles who instigated the opening try of the match with another burst to put the tourists deep on the attack.
A phase later, Sheehan put monster prop Blake over from close-range.
Shepherd's successful conversion made it 13-3 and Australia A skipped further ahead on the stroke of halftime with a fine try to Mitchell after good lead-up work from five-eighth Mat Rogers and outside centre Morgan Turinui.
Turinui, captaining a national representative side for the first time at senior level, gleefully accepted Rogers' cut-out pass 40 metres out from the Scotland A line, accelerated and drew the opposition fullback to send Mitchell over for his first try of the tour and give his team an 18-3 lead at the break.
Mitchell grabbed his second just two minutes after the interval when he took an inside pass from Hoiles and stepped his way to the line, beating three defenders from 15 metres out, and Shepherd again converted to make it 25-3.
Centre Graeme Morrison crossed for Scotland A's opening try three minutes later to briefly narrow the gap before Blake notched his second from a rolling maul.
Shepherd converted and then scored himself from a scrum inside the opposition quarter to increase Australia A's lead to 37-8 after 53 minutes.
Scotland A posted a couple of face-saving tries from hooker Scott Lawson and centre Rory Lamont either side of a solo effort from Sheehan, who dummied past the defence to touch down under the sticks and complete Australia A's scoring in the 64th minute.
- AAP
