Rugby Union: Scotland sign off tour on high note

Eastern Province 10 Scotland XV 36

Scott Hastings scored the final try as Scotland finished their six-match tour of South Africa with a flourish against Eastern Province at Port Elizabeth.

Stand-off Duncan Hodge, standing in for Andy Nicol as captain, rounded off a successful tour by kicking 21 points for Scotland, putting the first points on the board with a penalty goal after just one minute. They should have made more of a sustained period of pressure but after 11 minutes Province shocked them with a well-taken try by stand-off Van Jaarlsveld from line-out possession and clever work by the back row. Theo Van Rensburg missed the conversion.

Hodge kicked two further penalties before No 8 Carl Hogg scored the tourists' first try by prop George Graham, Hodge converting for a 16-5 half-time lead.

An interception try by Province three minutes into the second half just kick-started Scotland's game again, and they were rewarded with a fourth penalty kick by Hodge and an opportunist try by Scott Murray, who pounced when Van Jaarlsveld failed to ground a wayward Hodge penalty attempt.

Hodge converted and added a fifth penalty before converting a late try by substitute Hastings.

Eastern Province: Tries Loubscher, van Jaarlsveld. Scotland: Tries Hastings, Hogg, S Murray. Conversions Hodge 3. Penalties Hodge 5.

Eastern Province: T van Rensburg; D Kayser, R Fourie, C van Rensburg, R Laubscher; R van Jaarsveld, C Alcock; M van der Merwe, A Minnie, B Liebenberg, A Geldenhuys, A du Preez, M Webber, J Greeff, S Scott-Young (capt).

SCOTLAND XV: D Lee (Ldn Scottish); S Longstaff (Dundee HSFP), C Murray (Hawick), R Eriksson (Ldn Scottish), M Dods (Northampton); D Hodge (Watsonians, capt), G Beveridge (Boroughmuir); G Graham (Newcastle), G Bulloch (West of Scotland), M Stewart (Northampton), S Murray (Bedford), A Lucking (Currie), P Walton (Newcastle), C Hogg (Melrose), S Holmes (Ldn Scottish).

Referee: J Kaplan (Natal).