Scotland have overcome a first-half scare to beat Fiji 28-12 at Murrayfield, outscoring their visitors by four tries to two in a tough, physical contest.
George Turner, Adam Hastings, Duhan van der Merwe and Ben White dotted down for the home team, with Hastings adding two conversions and his replacement Blair Kinghorn the other pair.
Fiji's points all came in an impressive first-half showing, from Setariki Tuicuvu and debutant lock Ratu Leone Rotuisolia, with a solitary conversion from Vilimoni Botitu.
Scotland's superior organisation and fitness proved decisive, but they had to weather an early onslaught that suggested, with more preparation, Fiji might have come closer to an upset. They had just days to prepare, after only assembling at the start of the week.
Scotland got off to a dominant start and scored their first try within seven minutes, as the forwards drove hooker Turner over from a lineout maul.
Fiji were already down to 14 men, after Rotuisolia earned a yellow card within 90 seconds of the start and the advantage allowed the Scottish pack an easy pushover.
But to the consternation of the home crowd, Fiji then took command and scored two tries in quick succession, with a mix of physical power and impressive ball handling.
Winger Tuicuvu went over in the corner in the 14th minute, before Rotuisolia drove over from right on the line nine minutes later, as Fiji battered the gainline, breaking tackles and putting Scotland on the backfoot.
The tries handed the Pacific islanders a massive dollop of confidence and they continued to hammer away at the Scottish defence, going close to two more tries, but were let down by basic mistakes at vital moments.
That ultimately proved costly, as Scotland flyhalf Hastings slipped a tackle to pop over for a try on the stroke of halftime for a 14-12 lead.
A long skip pass from Chris Harris set winger Van der Merwe over soon after the break, allowing Scotland to go nine points clear, after the conversion went over.
Replacement scrumhalf White was then quick to see a wide gap in the defence and burst over from the base of the scrum seven minutes from the end of the test, with Fiji's resistance broken.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game," Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie said. "We knew there would be times where they'd get the upper hand and have momentum.
"I'm proud of how we fought back. We stuck to our guns and got the result."
Scotland's victory followed last weekend's disappointment, when they missed a last-gasp penalty and went down 16-15 to Australia.
They host New Zealand at Murrayfield next Monday (NZ time), while Fiji play Ireland at Dublin on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Italy began their autumn test campaign in scintillating fashion with a 49-17 hammering of Samoa at Padua.
Tries from Juan Ignacio Brex, Pierre Bruno and Monty Ioane gave Italy a 28-0 lead going into the break, with fullback Tommaso Allan in fine form, kicking two conversions and two of the hosts' three penalty goals.
Ioane went over again four minutes into the second half, while Allan converted once more, before Samoa finally got going and responded with a try of their own from Ulupano Seuteni to get on the board.
Samoa had experience in their side, especially in the form of former All Black Jeffery Toomaga-Allen and former Wallabies centre Duncan Paia'aua, who made his debut as a replacement, after both players switched their allegiance to Samoa.
Paia'aua also scored a try for Samoa in the second half, finishing a passing move and exploiting a hole in the defensive line, while Theo McFarland scored a late try, but by then, it was far too late, as Italy ran away with the victory.
Italy will face Australia and South Africa later this month.
Reuters.
