Hawick’s Rory Sutherland helps Scotland’s national rugby team round off 2025 summer tour with win v Samoa in New Zealand

Head coach Gregor Townsend’s tourists, captained by former Southern Knight Rory Darge, beat Samoa 41-12, thanks to tries from outside-centre Rory Hutchinson, left-winger Arron Reed, right-winger Kyle Steyn, lock Grant Gilchrist, full-back Kyle Rowe, hooker Ewan Ashman and replacement George Turner, with fly-half Fergus Burke adding two conversions and substitute George Horne another.

The Samoans’ tries, one of them converted by Jacob Umaga, were scored by Benjamin Petaia Nee-Nee and Duncan Paia’aua.

That was the Scots’ second win of their summer series, following a 29-14 loss away to Fiji in Suva six days earlier and an opening 29-26 victory against the Maori All Blacks in Whangarei in New Zealand on Saturday, July 5.

Glasgow Warriors loosehead prop Sutherland, 32, went off at half-time after earning his 43rd cap, along with Ashman and Steyn, with Nathan McBeth, Turner and Horne taking over respectively.

Sutherland and Ashman are among four Scots called up by the British and Irish Lions as cover for the final midweek match of their current Australian tour, a 24-19 win against a First Nations and Pasifika XV on Tuesday in Melbourne, together with lock Gregor Brown – on for the first 56 minutes of Friday’s game in Auckland – and Hawick’s Darcy Graham, taking the size of head coach Andy Farrell’s squad up to 45 and swelling its Scottish contingent to 12.

Explaining fellow former Gala player Sutherland and Edinburgh’s Ashman going off on 40 minutes, Townsend, 52, said: “We decided to take Rory and Ewan off at half-time.

“They’re fine. I thought they played really well. That’s a real testament to what playing for Scotland means to them.

“They knew that we were going to be involved with the Lions in a couple of days’ time but they fronted up and they were excellent in the first half.”

Sutherland and Edinburgh right-winger Graham were among three fellow Borderers in Townsend’s squad, the other being West Linton’s Patrick Harrison.

Sutherland also played for the first 57 minutes of Scotland’s defeat in Suva before making way for Alex Hepburn and 47-times-capped Graham, 28, featured that day too prior to being sent off on 66 minutes.

Edinburgh hooker Harrison’s only game of the tour was versus the Maoris, with the 23-year-old playing for the first 50 minutes, earning his fourth cap, before being replaced by Turner, 32.

Looking back over Friday’s tour finale, Townsend – Scotland’s longest-serving head coach to date, having been in post since May 2017 – added: “It was hugely important. You rise to a challenge and you show your true identity when you’ve got that challenge of backing up a defeat, and the players showed that with the way they came together during the week with just a six-day turnaround and one training session. They were really aligned and focused on delivering a better performance and they did that.

“We had to defend really well at the beginning of the game. Samoa were direct, they were physical and they moved the ball well to the wide channels, so that set us up really well to move the ball when we had it.

“I thought we were really clinical in the 22, through our forwards mainly, with the mall but also direct carrying, and then just some really good skills to score tries and give us that cushion going into half-time.

“That would be close to how well the team played against the Maori. This game was more physical.

“It’s been a really enjoyable tour, so it was important we finished with a top performance.

“It was really pleasing to see our scrum and our line-up maul being dominant. It’s something we’ve spent a lot of time working on. The players have really worked hard and we have had our rewards in that area on this tour.”

Making up the rest of Friday’s starting line-up were Stafford McDowall, Jamie Dobie, Elliot Millar Mills, Andy Onyeama-Christie and Matt Fagerson and the Scots’ other replacements were Fin Richardson, Cameron Henderson, Marshall Sykes, Ben Muncaster and Adam Hastings.