Late try gives Scotland narrow win over Samoa

EDINBURGH - The All Blacks will have seen little to worry them after Scotland scraped past Samoa with a late try this morning.

Centre Marcus Di Rollo gave them an 18-11 win at Murrayfield after the Pacific islanders had looked set to end their winless run against the home side.

In front of another disappointingly small crowd (14,700) Scotland struggled to contain the lively and skilful Samoans for much of the match but in the end their fitness proved superior and significantly their winning score came five minutes before the final whistle.

The All Blacks play Scotland on Sunday, needing a win to complete their first Grand Slam since 1978.

While Scotland will be pleased with a win after last week's late defeat by Argentina there will be concerns over the lack of incision by the backs whose lack of penetration made things easy for the Samoan drift defence.

The Scots improved when Edinburgh outside half Phil Godman replaced the lacklustre Dan Parks but coach Frank Hadden will know there will have to be a huge improvement to avoid a thrashing on Sunday.

Samoa struck first from a set-piece move when after a lineout the forwards drove forward before releasing the ball to halfback Garrick Cowley. His chip ahead gave Alesana Tuilagi the chance to beat Chris Cusiter in an aerial contest for the ball before touching down.

Scotland replied with a period of sustained pressure but it took three catch-and-drive attempts from lineouts in the corner before they secured their score, flanker Ally Hogg credited with the try from an all-forward effort which Chris Paterson converted.

Samoa almost produced an immediate riposte when Tuilagi, collecting a poor clearance kick from Parks, beat two defenders before kicking ahead. A try seemed certain as the bulky winger followed up fast only for the ball to bounce off the crossbar and back over his head.

There was some compensation minutes later from a penalty by Roger Warren but this was quickly nullified with a penalty by Paterson.

Samoa should have been disadvantaged after flanker Iosefa Taina was shown the yellow card for a technical foul at the contact area but instead the islanders launched waves of attacks that had Scotland focusing on defence as they reached halftime at 8-8.

Scotland stepped up the pace after the break with early chances for Rory Lamont and Scott Lawson, who were both foiled in the corner.

A further exchange of penalties made it 11-11 with 13 minutes remaining but Scotland pushed on strongly.

Replacement halfback Mike Blair made a searing break before clever handling involving Sean Lamont and Blair set up Di Rollo for the matchwinning score.

Paterson's conversion, which brought the fullback's personal points tally to 402, was the final contribution.

- REUTERS