Scotland v Tonga: Five takeaways from Rugby World Cup clash as Finn Russell dazzles in Nice

Following a 45-17 victory for Scotland over Tonga in their Rugby World Cup clash at Stade de Nice, here’s our five takeaways from the Pool B meeting on Sunday.

The top line

Scotland’s second match mission is fully accomplished as they got a full bonus-point win against Tonga to keep their Pool B hopes alive. A sumptuous display from Finn Russell at fly-half, with a brilliant supporting act at 12 from Sione Tuipulotu saw Gregor Townsend’s men score seven tries as George Turner, Duhan van der Merwe, Kyle Steyn, Rory Darge, George Horne, Blair Kinghorn and Darcy Graham all got their names on the scorecard.

The fact the Scots had seven separate scorers really summed up what a team effort this was and also what a tightly bonded unit this side is. It may have the superstar 10, but elsewhere around him there’s quality in every position, from a competitive scrummage and lineout, a brilliantly executed breakdown defence and of course, one of the sport’s most cohesive attacks.

Tonga had their moments, in fact for a period in the first half it looked very likely they could pull off a upset against the odds but the sheer amount of unforced technical errors they continued to make killed any chance they had of maximising their advantage.

Russell’s vision

Playing alongside Russell must be joyous. His ability to make you run onto the ball in front of your hands is quite delightful – and when he does it so equally well off either hand it’s easy to see why so many believe him to be the most creative fly-half in the world.

His incursion to send Van der Merwe over off a loop move with Tuipulotu was close to poetic. He then followed that up with another absolute snorter four minutes later, breaking right and firing out a pinpoint 30 metre effort to send Steyn, a man well known to Tonga, over on the right wing.

Best of all Russell looks to have become more patient with his plays – prepared to probe and move the opposition around to create gaps before he delivers his killer blows.

Factor in his 50/22s, all round kicking game and his ability to beat defenders on the outside, there’s few that would disagree that Russell is reaching the peak of his considerable powers.

Tongan power

Whilst they may have came off second best in this match, any team facing Tonga knows they’re going to have their spines rearranged in the wave of power tackles that come from the men in red. However, one went too far when Jamie Ritchie found his teeth rattled in a high tackle and Karl Dickson did exactly the right thing by awarding a yellow card to Afusipa Taumoepeau and referring to the bunker.

The subsequent decision to stick with yellow based upon mitigation of carrier dropping might surprise many given it was almost identical to a couple of recent red card incidents and it will be interesting to see if the card is upgraded on review post-match, although it was confirmed that Vaea Fifita‘s clean-out in the closing minutes was upgraded to red.

But elsewhere the legal hits rained in, led by Pita Ahki and Malakai Fekitoa in midfield. It was that defensive power that led to the opportunity for Salesi Piutau to create width down the right-hand side to send Solomone Kata flying over in the corner.

With a powerful scrum, one of the most stable around, and some high quality work at the breakdown, Tonga have the basics of a very competitive team, but keeping 15 men on the pitch is a key aspect of Test rugby in the modern era and Tonga failed to do that. Couple in their abysmal lineout showing, currently at less than 50% for their tournament and you have to wonder, given the quality of their lineout jumpers, if there’s a coaching issue in this area of the set-piece.

Looking for improvement

One thing that impresses those that watch Scotland is they seem to be always evolving and improving. Russell said post match that he was frustrated by the high error rate in both handling and penalty count and given the Scots made over 1300 metres and completed 14 line breaks in the match, Russell does have a point.

A real barometer of that continued improvement is the work of Kinghorn and his ability to make the inroads from 15 that Scotland always wanted from Stuart Hogg but rarely got. For years Hogg mixed the occasional brilliant moment with howlers galore and Kinghorn has really added some solidity and class to the 15 shirt. Another example is how Darge is making the seven shirt his own over the great Lion Hamish Watson and adding even more solidity in terms of carrying in attack.

The ambition in Townsend’s team, coupled with their continual improvement is something quite special and every neutral in the game will be shouting for them to overturn the odds when they meet Ireland in a fortnight’s time.

Scottish road ahead

That match against Ireland – in simple terms, Townsend’s men must ensure they go into their crunch game against the Irish on 10 points which would give them the best possible chance of matching or bettering the Irish points total.

Failure to do so could mean that three victories would be insufficient to qualify for the next round – particularly if South Africa secure a bonus-point victory over Tonga in their final match as it would mean Scotland would be unable to finish above the Springboks as they could only, at best, match their 15-point tally and would finish below them based on head-to-head record.

It’s one for the mathematicians but it vindicates the introduction of bonus points to the Rugby World Cup. The simple answer is to beat Ireland by the relative points difference before the match, but even given the brilliance of the Scots attack, that looks a tall order and, rather frustratingly, it looks like Townsend’s wonderful side may very fall victims of a hastily scheduled pool draw.

READ MORE: Scotland player ratings: Finn Russell magic and Duhan van der Merwe physicality carves open Tonga