Canada 10-48 Scotland: Lewis Carmichael, Adam Hastings and Jamie Ritchie hailed on debuts
- Published
Debutants Lewis Carmichael, Adam Hastings and Jamie Ritchie were picked out for special praise by coach Gregor Townsend as Scotland beat Canada.
Hooker George Turner grabbed the headlines by becoming the first Scot to score a hat-trick of tries in 11 years.
But Townsend picked out back-row Ritchie and two replacements - lock Carmichael and fly-half Hastings.
"Adam and Lewis had brilliant impacts for their first caps," he said. "Jamie Richtie - he was outstanding."
Edinburgh 21-year-old Ritchie started in the 48-10 victory in Edmonton.
And Townsend said the flanker "did a lot of work down the breakdown" in a first half during which he thought his side did a lot of work to tire the opposition without scoring as many points as he would have liked.
"There was a period in the first half when we didn't execute as well as we had done in training, but that's the difference between training and playing a game, especially with a team that hadn't played before and some players who had never played for Scotland," he said.
"While there are some frustrations with part of the game, it's great that we got over that, we worked hard and we ended up with a good win."
Townsend was most pleased with "the impact of the bench", saying: "The half-backs upped the pace of the game and it really took the game to the opposition."
Scotland next face a United States team fresh from Saturday's convincing 62-13 win over Russia.
"There will be a few aspects we'll need to improve on for next week and we know USA are a really good team and on form," said Townsend.
"Scoring 60 points against anyone is a great achievement and obviously they beat Canada earlier this year.
"So they are a team that are going places and will be a big threat next week."
Turner grabbed his chance when fellow hooker Fraser Brown was forced off early with a rib injury and the latter could be a doubt against the USA.
"We'll have to wait and see what the prognosis is," said his coach. "We have four hookers on the trip and let's hope Fraser's available for at least one of our two remaining games."
James Lang's debut was cut short by a head knock, but Townsend expects the Harlequins fly-half to recover in time to face the USA.
The Scots struggled to hit top gear in the opening period, leading 15-3 at the break, but loose forward David Denton was pleased with how they came through to register a convincing win.
"It was a real tough Test match," Denton said. "Early on, we had quite a few boys go off the pitch. It just shows how physical the game was.
"Credit to the Canadian guys. We knew it wasn't going to be an easy Test, but we came out here and played good rugby, so we are pretty happy."
Byron McGuigan, Ruaridh Jackson, Magnus Bradbury and Carmichael scored Scotland's other tries, with all three of Turner's touchdowns coming courtesy of rolling lineout mauls, a weapon that Denton says the Scots have been honing.
"We had a big focus this week on the maul," said Denton, who was named man of the match.
"I feel like I've robbed this from George. He got a hat-trick and it was a great game for the big fella."
Analysis
Former Scotland captain Andy Nicol
"That's a very good first game in the summer tour. They laid the foundation in the first half, it was a bit scrappy, but second half they just got better and better.
"One of the objectives of this summer tour was to blood new talent into the international game. We saw the new caps, Jamie Ritchie - outstanding. James Lang I would have liked to have seen more of, he went off injured. Lewis Carmichael with a try and Adam Hastings came on and looked very comfortable. So, job done."
Injured Scotland captain John Barclay
"The pleasing thing from my point of view was there was a clear shift after half-time. They obviously had a re-group in the changing room, whatever was said was implemented.
"There was a clear shift in tempo and aggression. They flattened up a bit in the wide channels and they really put Canada away in the second half."