Duhan van der Merwe regained the lead in Scotland’s try-scoring chart, surpassing Darcy Graham, in a match where Gregor Townsend’s team closed a disappointing autumn with a resounding 56-0 victory over Tonga at Murrayfield.The Scots’ series was defined by the results against New Zealand and Argentina, so the consecutive defeats in those two matches made Tonga’s visit, ranked 19th in the world, largely irrelevant in the final analysis, unless Townsend’s team suffered another defeat.That scenario never seemed likely once the hosts, with 14 changes from the team that started against the Pumas a week earlier, went 21-0 ahead at halftime thanks to converted tries from Jamie Ritchie, George Turner and Max Williamson. All the tries were scored at a time when Semisi Paea was serving a 20-minute red card.Tonga had three other yellow cards before Van der Merwe’s try number 35, just before the hour mark, put him ahead of his Edinburgh teammate, Graham. Replacements Ewan Ashman and George Horne scored doubles in the final quarter to add gloss to the scoreline.Tom Jordan celebra durante la victoria de Escocia sobre Tonga.The visitors were on the defensive from the start and their hopes of getting into the match were hit when Paea received a yellow card in the fifth minute for dangerous play. After a review, the third-row player’s foul was deemed worthy of a 20-minute red card.Scotland capitalized on the situation by scoring their first three tries in their absence. The first came in the 10th minute, when Ritchie, in his first appearance of the autumn, broke through two Tongan players to open the scoring.The hooker Turner celebrated his 50th match with a try, as he broke through to score next to the posts after being assisted by Ritchie.The third came in the 23rd minute, when second-row Max Williamson forced his way over from close to the try line. Fergus Burke added the conversions for all three tries.When Tonga returned with their 15 players, they managed to stop the attack for the rest of the first half, before lock Harison Mataele received a yellow card for offside in stoppage time.The Scots would have been aware that they were also leading 21-0 a week earlier against Argentina before being defeated 33-24.However, any chance of the limited Tongan side making a comeback was effectively eliminated 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 the fourth try for the Scots in the 59th minute after good work from Horne.Tonga crumbled in the final stages, as Ashman and Horne scored doubles in the final quarter.
