Scots claw back some consolation

Stephen Gemmell's men, who were due to take on Japan in the quarter-final of the Bowl early this morning, hammered Chinese Taipei 42-5 before going down 22-5 to New Zealand. They also lost their first pool match 12-7 to France on Friday.

The Scots needed a big win over Chinese Taipei to book their place in the last eight of the Bowl and did so with a resounding six-try-to-one victory.

A Lee Jones double, either side of a try from Mike Adamson, gave the Scots a 21-0 half-time lead once Adamson had converted all three. He struck again in the second period, converting his own score, before Grant Anderson followed suit.

Stuart McInally notched the Scots' sixth try. Peter Jericevich converted, and only a late unconverted score from Taipei denied the Scots a clean sheet.

Gemmell, who blamed Friday's defeat to France on Scotland's failure to take their chances, was happy with his team's performance in their final pool match against New Zealand.

Despite conceding three tries in the first half, only one converted, the Scots were competitive against the World Series leaders.

Andrew Turnbull ran in a long-range try from within his own 22 to lift the Scots as they asked questions of the abbreviated All Blacks. A late try sealed the win for the Kiwis, but head coach Gemmell took heart from the display.

"It was a much improved performance," he said. "This is a young squad and we have ten players who have never played in Hong Kong before, so I was impressed at how they responded to upping their game.

"The big difference in our first game today was that we stuck to our shape, were accurate at the contact and retained possession.

"We had a real crack at New Zealand and pulled them around the park. It was probably as good a performance Scotland have had against New Zealand since I've been involved.

"We said the France game was a missed opportunity but we have improved throughout the three pool matches and the challenge is now to keep that going into tomorrow. The most important thing for me is that the players can take belief into day three."

New Zealand face Kenya in the last eight of the main Cup competition, while Fiji take on South Africa, England face Australia and Samoa continue their bid for a third consecutive tournament victory against Adelaide finalists United States, although Steven Betham's side were far from convincing in wins over Russia and Argentina yesterday.

With Samoa posting wins in Las Vegas and Australia, New Zealand have had their lead at the top of the series standings cut to just two points with three events remaining, but coach Gordon Tietjens has been encouraged by their pool wins over Chinese Taipei, France and Scotland.

"Anyone that makes the quarter-finals has a chance to win the Cup competition, that's how close it is," said the veteran coach. "We are playing well and are in with a chance. We could have played better in our last game against Scotland. We were lazy in defence and lacked accuracy and made a few mistakes. But if the defence can stay as it is and we communicate and make the crucial one-on-one tackles we have a chance."

England coach Ben Ryan feels his side are still underdogs despite reaching the quarter-finals of the main competition with a 100 per cent record. Ryan's men beat Japan 45-0 and Wales 26-5 at Hong Kong Stadium to add to an earlier 45-0 win over Hong Kong and face another unbeaten side, Australia, in the Cup quarter-finals.

Wasps winger Christian Wade, James Rodwell, Oliver Lindsay-Hague and Nick Royle with his fifth of the tournament all touched down against a Wales side still reeling from a 21-19 loss to Hong Kong, while Jevon Groves' try at the start of the second half represented the only points conceded by England in three pool games.

"We are in the mix in the quarter-finals and that is where the fun starts," said Ryan. "I am pretty pleased with them at the moment to come through injury free. We are in the mix, but from what I have seen there are better teams out there so we have just got to keep working hard."