Scotland Crushes Tonga 56-0: Van der Merwe Leads the Rout at Murrayfield

Duhan van der Merwe regained the lead in the try-scoring table for Scotland, surpassing Darcy Graham. The team led by Gregor Townsend closed a disappointing autumn with a resounding 56-0 victory over Tonga at Murrayfield, where they scored eight tries. The Scotland series would be primarily evaluated by the results against New Zealand and Argentina. After consecutive defeats in those two matches, the match with Tonga, ranked 19th in the world, gained relevance, especially because another defeat would have worsened the situation. That scenario never seemed likely, as the home side, with 14 changes from the team that played against Argentina a week earlier, went 21-0 up at halftime thanks to converted tries from Jamie Ritchie, George Turner and Max Williamson. These were scored while Semisi Paea was serving a 20-minute red card. Tonga suffered three more yellow cards before Van der Merwe scored his 35th try at international level, surpassing Graham, his Edinburgh teammate. Replacements Ewan Ashman and George Horne scored doubles in the final quarter, increasing the difference on the scoreboard.

Visitors were in trouble from the start, and their hopes of getting into the match were dashed when Paea received a yellow card in the fifth minute for a dangerous action. After a review, the third-row player’s infraction was deemed worthy of a 20-minute red card. Scotland took advantage of the situation, scoring their first three tries during his absence. The first came in the 10th minute, when Ritchie, from the third line of Perpignan, in his first appearance of the autumn, broke through two Tonga players to open the scoring. Turner, the hooker, celebrated his 50th match with a try by going through a gap and scoring next to the posts after receiving a pass from Ritchie. The third came in the 23rd minute, when second-rower Max Williamson barged his way over from close to the try line. Fergus Burke added the conversions to all three. When Tonga got their 15 players back, they managed to contain the flow for the rest of the first half, before lock Harison Mataele received a yellow card for intentional offside just before halftime. Scotland should bear in mind that they were also leading 21-0 a week earlier against Argentina, before being defeated 33-24. However, any chance of Tonga making a comeback was thwarted by their own indiscipline, as Taniela Filimone and Fine Inisi received yellow cards for deliberate knock-ons in the third quarter. After a period of resistance from the visitors, van der Merwe finally scored Scotland’s fourth try in the 59th minute, following good work from Horne. Tonga’s situation fell apart in the final stages, as Ashman and Horne scored doubles in the final quarter.