Scots stroll past gallant Portugal

Frank Hadden's men were expected to dish out a comprehensive beating to the least fancied team in the tournament. That they did just that, scoring eight tries, must be welcomed. Despite the blemish of conceding a try and a penalty to the part-timers, the Scots could consider this a useful warm-up for bigger games to come.

At the very least, it sharpened a few edges and exposed a couple of weaknesses in a safe environment — one in which the result was never in doubt.

Hadden will know the areas in which improvement is needed. And he can surely be guaranteed an increase in intensity as Scotland take on Romania, then New Zealand, before a Pool C decider with Italy here at the end of the month.

Passionate amateurs, in the best sense of the word, the Portuguese showed ample enthusiasm and no little promise. Their solitary try, a moment scorer Pedro Carvalho should remember forever, was one of the heartening moments in this one-sided humiliation.

But for two knock-ons by Rob Dewey, Scotland would have been well clear in the opening 10 minutes. As it was, they only had to wait until there were 11 on the clock to register their first points.

Rory Lamont was the man to crash through for the touchdown, collecting a Jason White pass and carrying two red jerseys over the line with him.

Three minutes later, Lamont had his second. White was again involved and, once more, Lamont finished brilliantly.

It took only a further 60 seconds for Scotland to get their third. Dan Parks was the architect, the stand off sending a perfect cross-field kick into the arms of Scott Lawson, the shortest man in the Scotland squad. Faced with a back built like Cristiano Ronaldo, the hooker simply battered through to score.

Then came the inevitable hairy moment.

Portugal established good position, recycled the ball well and capitalised when Carvalho darted over from close range.

The response from Scotland was instant, Ally Hogg taking the ball from the restart and sending Dewey in for a fourth try.

A scoreline of 28-10 at the break was not as big an advantage as most would have liked. And Portugal emerged from the interval clearly heartened by their ability to stay close to an established rugby nation.

Equilibrium was restored when Parks strolled over for try No 5, followed by touchdowns six and seven from replacements Hugo Southwell and Kelly Brown before 70 minutes had elapsed. Ross Ford took advantage of a mistake to bound over in the closing minutes, Chris Paterson's conversion completing the scoring.