Former Melrose rugby players help Scotland A to 19-17 victory versus Chile

Ross McCann in possession for Scotland A during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)Ross McCann in possession for Scotland A during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)
Ross McCann in possession for Scotland A during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)
Four former Melrose players and an ex-Southern Knight helped Scotland A to a 19-17 friendly victory against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday.

Head coach Peter Horne, drafted to the Greenyards club for the 2009/10 rugby season from Glasgow Warriors, fielded two other past players there in his starting XV against the Chileans, full internationals Jamie Bhatti and Ross McCann.

His substitutes’ bench included one more ex-Melrose man, hooker Harri Morris, and former Knights scrum-half Ben Afshar.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Warriors loosehead prop Bhatti, 31, played for just short of an hour before being replaced by Mikey Jones and Edinburgh left-winger McCann, 27, was given a further ten minutes before going off for Jack Brown.

Jamie Bhatti on the ball for Scotland A during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)Jamie Bhatti on the ball for Scotland A during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)
Jamie Bhatti on the ball for Scotland A during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)

Edinburgh’s Morris, 23, was brought on for Gregor Hiddleston just past the hour mark, 20 minutes after fellow ex-Knight Afshar, 21, at Warriors since 2022, took over from captain Stafford McDowell.

The hosts’ tries, supplemented by a penalty try awarded by Italian referee Gianluca Gnecchi, were touched down by full-back Arron Reed and blindside flanker Tom Dodd, with fly-half Ross Thompson converting one of them.

Luca Strabucchi and Nicolas Garafulic scored the Chileans’ tries, with Benjamin Videla adding a conversion and penalty and Matias Garafulic a conversion.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Saturday’s win against head coach Pablo Lemoine’s visitors was Scotland A’s first game since a 45-5 victory away to the same opposition in June 2022 and their first at home for a decade, their last one prior having been a 16-16 draw with England Saxons at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium in January 2014 with Shade Munro as head coach and Jonny Gray as captain.

Ben Afshar on the attack for Scotland during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)Ben Afshar on the attack for Scotland during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)
Ben Afshar on the attack for Scotland during their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)

Bhatti, capped 35 times for Scotland’s first XV since making his international debut in 2017, also started that game, together with Melrose’s Rufus McLean, and Jedburgh’s Glen Young joined them as a 52nd-minute replacement.

The prop was one of nine members of Horne’s match-day squad to have featured in first XV head coach Gregor Townsend’s line-up for their 59-21 win against Portugal at the capital’s Murrayfield Stadium seven days prior.

Horne, 35, was happy to have ended up on the right side of the result, albeit only narrowly, saying: “I was really pleased we found a way to win in the end.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was a good young, inexperienced team and they were playing in tricky conditions.

Scotland A head coach Peter Horne ahead of their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)Scotland A head coach Peter Horne ahead of their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)
Scotland A head coach Peter Horne ahead of their 19-17 win against Chile at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group/SRU)

“I thought we defended really well. They didn’t create much. We gave them a couple of soft scores from an intercept and from a hack through off a dropped ball.

“We could have had another three or four tries out there, which is frustrating, but it’s a good learning curve. Those boys will get a lot from that.”

Saturdays’ victory was a Scottish side’s second against Chile in the space of four months as their summer tour squad beat them 52-11 in Santiago in July, that previous win having seen West Linton’s Patrick Harrison make his international first-XV debut as a 46th-minute replacement for Alex Craig.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1855
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice