Kellet's day of contrast

Scotland 15

Western Samoa 15

THERE were power failures on and off the pitch yesterday at Murrayfield where Scotland were held to a 15-15 draw by a Western Samoan side who scored two tries to nil. The visitors ran a lap of honour at the end and even re-enacted their war dance in front of a crowd of 35,000.

The Scots, by contrast, slipped quietly back to the sanctuary of their dressing room to reflect on how they had been let off the hook by a Samoan side who saw stand-off Darren Kellet miss a vital conversion after George Leaupepe had danced over following a scrum almost in front of the posts on 49 minutes. When the chips were down though, Kellet made no mistake with a 78th-minute conversion, after Sam Kaleta scored from a tapped penalty while Scotland stood around awaiting the goal-kick. Kellet also kicked a penalty, although that score paled in comparison to the five-from-seven success rate of Mike Dods who kept Scotland in the game and opened up a 12-3 lead at half-time.

Maybe it would have been kinder on a shambolic Scotland had the floodlights which went off for seven minutes at the start of the second half stayed fused. That way a shoal of missed tackles and elementary handling errors would not have stood out so clearly and Scottish humiliation, against a side decimated by defections to Rugby League, would have been abject had Western Samoan discipline not been so poor.

However, as English opponents are about to find out, the Samoans do have the great ability to open up defences with long, flat passes. To add to that formula they also possess runners like Leaupepe and battering-ram winger Brian Lima who are incredibly difficult to pin down in broken play, especially by a midfield defence as brittle as the Scots. In the scrum, veteran Fatialofa rolled back the years, while hooker Leiasamaiva'o is emerging as one of the biggest names in world rugby, in more ways than one.

By comparison the Scots handling was laboured and untidy while their forwards never came near to emulating the way the Samoan forwards thundered forward in tightly-knit groups off the back of menacing rolling mauls. Rowen Shepherd, taking over as full-back from Gavin Hastings, was predictably subjected to an early barrage under the high ball. Shepherd stood his ground well and grew in confidence as the game progressed to emerge as one of the few pluses for the Scots. Another favourable point: the Scots at least had a measure of control in the scrums where new hooker Jim Hay took the only heel against the head.

Scotland ended the opening quarter 6-3 ahead and seemed to be stumbling towards an expected victory when Dods added two more successful kicks for a 12-3 interval lead. Although Dods was on target again in 69 minutes for a 15-8 advantage, Western Samoa were in no mood to lie down. Leaupepe's try came after Shepherd had been blown away attempting to field a Kellet hoist, Lam providing the link to scorer Leaupepe from the resultant scrum.

Significantly, both locks, Falaniko and Leavasa, were involved in the build-up to Kaleta's late score which saw Scotland desperately try to kill the ball. Although Cronin and Weir did have their moments in the Scottish second row, when it comes to natural athletes, comfortable with ball in hand, the Western Samoans looked to be streets ahead. The Scotland coaching director Jim Telfer said: "I'm disappointed with the return in the line-out and we didn't win as much ball as I anticipated. We didn't put in enough first-time tackles early on." The Samoan skipper, Pat Lam, said: "Normally a draw at Murrayfield would be regarded as a good result. But it's a pretty hollow feeling having scored two tries to nil."

SCOTLAND: R Shepherd (Melrose), M Dods, G Townsend (Northampton), G Shiel (Melrose), K Logan (Stirling County), C Chalmers, B Redpath (Melrose), D Hilton (Bath), J Hay (Hawick), P Burnell (London Scottish), G Weir (Melrose), D Cronin (Bourges), R Wainwright (West Hartlepool), S Reid (Boroughmuir), I Smith (Gloucester).

WESTERN SAMOA: V Patu, B Lima, T Vaega, G Leaupepe, A Telea, D Kellett, J Filemu, M Mika, T Leiasamaiva'o, P Fatialofa, L Falaniko, P Leavasa, S Kaleta, P Lam, S Vaifale.

Referee: T Henning (South Africa).