Scottish Rugby

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Scotland's summer tour comes to a close on Friday against Samoa in Auckland and the match is available to watch live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

Build-up gets under way at 08:25 with kick-off at 08:35.

The Scots beat Maori All Blacks 29-26 in Whangarei but lost 29-14 to Fiji in Suva last weekend.

Gregor Townsend has urged his side to finish on a high after that disappointing reverse against Fiji.

"Tours are remembered in part by what you experience off the field but also by how well you play and the results you produce," he said.

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

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New Zealand-born Fergus Burke feels like "it was meant to be" after making his Scotland debut in the southern hemisphere.

The 25-year-old Saracens fly-half was in Gregor Townsend's squad for this year's Six Nations, but it was not until Friday's 29-14 summer tour defeat by Fiji that he earned his first cap.

It could be quickly followed by a second against Samoa at Eden Park in the land of his birth on Friday and, not surprisingly, he has "a fair few people" chasing him for tickets.

"I've had a few messages from people I haven't heard from for a while, but I'll hopefully get a good contingent of support there and it'll be cool," Burke said.

"It is a weird one. Obviously I was in for the Six Nations but didn't get a crack, so it is almost like this was the way it was meant to be when I get my first opportunity so my family could actually be here."

Darcy Graham was sent off after a second yellow card while Ewan Ashman was also sin-binned in Suva and Burke thinks the Scots can perform better against Samoa if they improve their discipline.

"I think in parts of that Fiji game we showed how good we are as a team when we get it right, but we got our discipline wrong and ended up making a lot more tackles than we needed to," he said.

Burke expects "a similar challenge to Fiji" but hopes to spend less time on defence against Samoa.

"I think they are going to be a little more structured than Fiji was - Fiji was quite loose and the looser the game got, the better they got," he suggested.

"I've got a feeling Samoa are going to kick a little bit more. We know how important this game is and we are pretty focused on getting it right."

Burke ended the game playing at full-back after Adam Hastings' introduction.

"I wasn't expecting that, but I played a little bit of full-back when I was still in New Zealand at Crusaders, so I felt reasonably comfortable there and I enjoyed playing with Adam as well," he added.

"I thought it was good when he came on and we probably got our most attacking in that last 10 minutes with ball in hand."

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Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors have learned their fixtures for the pool stage of the 2025-26 Investec Champions Cup.

Glasgow have been handed a tough draw as they will face with three-time winners Saracens and record six-time champions Toulouse in Pool 1, with both sides set to visit Scotstoun.

The Warriors also face trips to Sale Sharks and Clermont Auvergne.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh also have a challenging group of opponents in Pool 2, with Premiership champions Bath, who won last year's Challenge Cup, joining Gloucester, Castres and three-time winners Toulon.

Edinburgh will host Toulon and Gloucester and travel to Castres and Bath.

Glasgow's Champions Cup pool fixtures:

• Sale Sharks v Glasgow - Friday, 5 December

• Glasgow v Toulouse - Saturday, 13 December

• Clermont v Glasgow - Saturday, 10 January

• Glasgow v Saracens - Sunday, 18 January

Edinburgh's Champions Cup pool fixtures:

• Edinburgh v Toulon - Sunday, 7 December

• Castres v Edinburgh - Sunday, 14 December

• Edinburgh v Gloucester - Friday, 9 January

• Bath v Edinburgh Rugby - Friday, 16 January

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

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Fergus Burke will be hoping his rendition of "Eda Sa Qaqa" proves prophetic as the Saracens fly-half looks to fulfil his "burning desire" to recover from a debut defeat in a Scotland jersey.

The New Zealand-born 25-year-old chose the Fijian song, which translates as "We Have Overcome", as his initiation piece after Friday's 29-14 loss in the South Pacific island.

This Friday, he hopes to turn the tables on another rugby nation he knows well, Samoa, as Scotland end their summer tour at Ellis Park in the land of his birth.

"It was a super proud day for me and my family to get my first international cap for Scotland," he said.

"But obviously we didn't get the result we were after, so it was tainted a little bit and it was a weird one - I didn't know how to feel really.

"Immensely proud but got a bit of a burning desire to get the right result this week."

Burke said that, despite the defeat, it "was super special" to live out his childhood "dream", hearing "Flower Of Scotland" before the game and being presented with his first cap by captain Rory Darge.

"I even had to sing a song in the after-match, which was entertaining," he said.

"I wasn't expecting it at all. I wasn't given a heads up."

Explaining his choice of a hymn particularly associated with the Fijian rugby team, he added: "So I went for a Fijian song so the Fijian community could join in and help me.

"I think I did the first line of the song and then let them take over."

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Assistant coach Pete Horne is "sure we'll see a reaction" from Scotland against Samoa following their bruising loss to Fiji.

Horne says errors in the "breakdown area" played a big part in the defeat, which has severely dented the Scots' hopes of getting a favourable World Cup draw.

Therefore, the squad have put "a big focus" on addressing that prior to Friday's meeting with Samoa.

"A lot of the things that went wrong at the weekend were around the breakdown area, so there's been a big focus on that," Horne said.

"Especially that last 15 minutes. They really hammered us there. We showed a bit of footage on little ways that we can find solutions to be better and stop them getting over the ball. Ands that will just sharpen the focus.

"We defended so well for large parts of that game and just gave them a few cheap easy ins through offsides. Something like an offside, that's an easy fix.

"The players are all over it. The leaders have already spoken about that. I'm sure we'll see a reaction."

Scotland will face Samoa without winger Darcy Graham, who has left Gregor Townsend's set-up to join eight compatriots in the British and Irish Lions squad.

Prop Rory Sutherland and hooker Ewan Ashman will follow him after Friday's match and could feature for the Lions next Tuesday against a First Nations & Pasifika XV.

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We asked your for your views following Scotland's disappointing defeat to Fiji in Suva.

Here's what some of you said:

David: If this was such an important fixture, why was it arranged when eight first choice Scotland players were on tour with the Lions? It beggars belief that Scotland's chances in the next World Cup could be put at risk in this way.

Gordon: Awful from Scotland. Poor discipline, poor handling and they looked knackered from the 10 minute mark. Another group of death at the World Cup awaits and Townsend deserves nothing less.

No idea why some of the guys who played last week didn't play this week, shocking decision from the coaches.

Doug: This is Groundhog Day with Scotland.

One week promising, the next disappointing. Townsend has never achieved consistency with Scotland which has meant no serious challenge for any trophy.

I think he has achieved some great results at times but we will have the same conversations about missed opportunities after the 2026 Six Nations that we have done the last two years.

We need a change, no guarantees of improvement but we can't keep going on the same mediocre cycles.

Charlie: While the result isn't necessarily his fault, the buck must rest with the head coach. Townsend has done a very good job taking Scotland this far, however, it looks as though we are in for another tough World Cup pool and, thus, an early exit. It's time to promote Franco.

Shaun: One of the worst performances I've ever seen from the team.

We as fans are sick to death with these performances now. If Alex Williamson is seriously considering offering a new deal then his head needs examined.

We as fans can see Gregor's time is up ,so Alex needs to have the guts to act before it's too late! To say I'm furious after that would be an understatement 😡!

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Scotland captain Rory Darge says the side will have to put in a "much better" performance than what they showed in Fiji for next weekend's Test match against Samoa.

Despite scoring early in the first half, the Scots suffered a humbling 29-14 defeat in Suva.

The loss will cost the Scots world rankings points and likely push them out of the top six for December's World Cup draw, putting a dent in their hopes of getting a favourable draw.

"We were all really looking forward to playing Fiji," Darge said.

"It's a unique experience. It's the first time for a lot of us playing here. We knew the challenge we were going into and what a quality side Fiji are.

"But I'm sure there'll be a lot of things in the review that we can control and do much better."

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Gregor Townsend admitted "Fiji deserved to win" as his Scotland side were left battered and bruised after a humbling loss in Suva.

The Scots scored early in the first and second halves but couldn't respond to the physical onslaught that their hosts threw at them, with Fiji going on to win 29-14.

"Fiji deserved to win," he admitted. We're disappointed with our own performance and disappointed we didn't capitalise on a good start to the second half and getting back in the game.

"It was tough for us when we were down to 14 men on three occasions, but Fiji deserved to win.

"At times in the second half, players were looking very physically spent because of the big hits, the end to end action."

A combination of their own errors and ill-discipline allowed Fiji into attacking areas throughout the game, while Scotland struggled to fire a shot in reply.

"Discipline [went wrong], clearly," Townsend continued. "There was 14 penalties and three yellow cards. I would imagine most of them are in our control.

"That's unusual for us, to give away so many penalties and yellow cards, and that fatigues us when we're a man down. It also gives the opposition opportunities in our 22m and eventually those opportunities told for Fiji."

Scotland were without several stars who are on tour with the British & Irish Lions but had recalled the likes of Rory Darge, Jamie Ritchie and Darcy Graham, who were rested last week against the Maori All Blacks.

"It would have had an effect when you're missing a few players but we believed in the team, we've got a lot of depth. We felt how we trained, how we've worked together the last two weeks, that we were ready to win this game.

"The start of the game and start of the second half showed what we can do. Some of the effort was excellent, but there was too many times where it was simple mistakes.

"That's nothing to do with the quality of our players. It was just giving away possession and penalties that made it easier for Fiji today."

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Scotland winger Kyle Steyn admitted that Scotland "didn't get the basics" right as they succumbed to a potentially damaging loss to Fiji in Suva.

World rankings points were on offer and the 15-point loss sees Scotland slip down to eighth, behind Australia and perilously close to ninth-placed Fiji.

"It's gutting," he reflected. "We let ourselves down there. There was so much good work in it, good hustle and working for each other, but you can't come to Test rugby and make that amount of basic errors.

"We knew on transition they were going to be dangerous. Credit to them, in front of their home fans, they did exactly that. But we spoke before, against these guys you've got to get the basics of the game right, and we didn't do that.

"We came on this tour wanting three out of three and to take that back to our fans is really gutting. It's all on next week. We've got six days to turn around and tear into Samoa."

Scotland had Ewan Ashman sent to the bin before Darcy Graham was awarded a yellow card in either half, resulting in the Scots playing the last 15 minutes with just 14 men.

"When you're chasing your tail a bit, and playing half the game with 14 men, that definitely adds to the challenges," Steyn said. "Some of the work rate - Fergus Burke on debut, Kyle Rowe and Rory Darge - the way they tried to make sure Fiji didn't score, they were still cracking examples of guys that are working really hard for this group."

Fly-half Burke, making his Scotland debut, came in for particular praise from Steyn.

"Massively special for him. It's nice that it's close to New Zealand, his family were here. He played last week against the Maori and then today against two really physical back lines.

"The way he put his body line, marshalled us around the field with the little ball he had... I'm really buzzing to have him as part of the group."

Fair play to those of you who got up and watched that, it was a tough one to take for the Scots.

But what did you make of it? Where did Scotland lose that game and just how costly will it be?

Did they ever look like winning out in Suva?

Have your say here.

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Blair Kinghorn's injury will need to be monitored "day by day", says British and Irish Lions defence coach Simon Easterby, but he is "hopeful" the full-back will take part in training next week.

The Scotland international sprained his knee in Wednesday's win against the Brumbies and "didn't look great", but Easterby confirmed scans have showed up "way more positive" than originally feared.

The Lions have already lost a full-back in Elliot Daly, who fractured his forearm against the ACT Brumbies.

Ireland's Jamie Osborne has been called up as cover, though Easterby stressed Kinghorn will be given every chance to show he is ready for the opening Test against Australia on Saturday, 19 July.

"Blair didn't look great against the Brumbies and it was the right thing to do to pull him off," Easterby said. £But the scan has showed up way more positive than we'd hoped originally.

"We're hopeful that he'll take some part in training next week and then it will be a little bit of a waiting game in terms of whether he's available for the first Test.

"It will be one of those things that we'll just have to take day by day. Like a lot of these injuries throughout a tour, we'll give guys an opportunity to try and prove their fitness.

"And who knows? If it works out, great. If not, we've got good guys who are able to step up."

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Scotland captain Rory Darge is relishing the opportunity to test himself against Fiji's "benchmark for physicality" in Saturday's Pacific Tour Test

The Glasgow Warriors flanker will lead the side out in Suva as head coach Gregor Townsend makes 14 changes to the line-up that began the tour with a hard-fought win over the Maori All Blacks last week.

The match is key to Scotland's hopes of climbing into the world's top six, which would ensure a more favourable draw in the pool stages for the 2027 World Cup.

"They (Fiji) are the benchmark for physicality, and we're on their patch in a place where not many if any of us have ever played rugby, so that's why it's exciting," the 25-year-old said.

"You want to go up against the best and ultimately that's why everyone plays this game.

"It's a great shared experience playing rugby in a place where there are such different challenges."

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Head coach Gregor Townsend admits Scotland have one eye on the "bigger picture" going into Saturday's match against Fiji in their Pacific Tour.

Townsend has stressed the importance of the fixture, as well as the following game against Samoa as Scotland look to lock in a top-six ranking ahead of the draw for the 2027 World Cup in Australia in December.

Currently ranked seventh, the Scots want to avoid a rough repeat of 2023 when they were grouped with two top nations - Ireland and South Africa - and failed to progress to the knockout stages.

"This is a one-off game in terms of our tour, but there is also the bigger picture and that is the World Cup draw in November," Townsend said.

"This is a very important game going into the Samoa Test, and also the Tests we have in November, to put ourselves in the best possible position to get into that top six."

After opening their Pacific Tour with a hard-fought 29-26 victory over Maori All Blacks in a non-cap match, Townsend has made 14 changes to his team for the Fiji encounter.

The head coach added the standard has now been set for what is expected for the rest of their Pacific Tour.

"I think the alignment with what we wanted in terms of the gameplan, the execution, the effort throughout the game – there was one sequence of play that lasted 29 phases in defence - the togetherness was brilliant," he added.

"Then also the skill to execute when it counted. The try before half-time, George's [Horne] second try had really good skill and support.

"It is what you hope and dream when you put a team out against such a tough opponent, but if often doesn't happen when new combinations come together, so it was really pleasing for everyone that they did play so well."

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Kyle Steyn is set to end an injury-plagued year away from international rugby in Scotland's clash with Fiji on Saturday.

After taking part in last summer's four-Test tour of the Americas, the Glasgow captain picked up two separate untimely injuries just before the Autumn Series and then the Six Nations.

The 31-year-old wing has fully recovered from his respective ankle and knee problems and is included to start in Suva.

"Jeez, almost coming up on a year," he said. "It's been some year, man. "If you'd told me a year ago I'd have to wait another year, I wouldn't have believed you.

"I'm just chomping at the bit after seeing the autumn and the Six Nations and the boys that are doing so well with the Lions and the boys that played on the weekend. I just can't wait.

"To pick up an injury the week before both is kind of funny to look back on now, because the odds on that can't be much.

"But then I think Cammy Redpath was saying he had a pretty similar case this season, so you're never alone.

"I was gutted with how it'd gone, but that's just the way the game goes. And at Glasgow, I think we all learned this year that injuries happen.

"So many of our boys seemed to pick up big injuries somewhere along the way. All those boys have bounced back really well, so I'm just kind of trying to follow in their stead and really looking forward to Saturday."