Scotland freeze out Canada

Scotland did what they wanted and needed on Saturday, beating Canada 41-0 in an icy Pittodrie in Aberdeen.

Nikki Walker (2), Ben Cairns, John Barclay, Alasdair Strokosch and Rory Lamont also all crossed for tries as Scotland put behind them the disappointment of their meek surrender at the hands of New Zealand's second string and the missed opportunity against South Africa.

Coach Frank Hadden made four changes to the side defeated by South Africa last Saturday with two new wings in Walker and Simon Webster while Simon Taylor and Strokosch came into the back row.

Two of the incoming players were heavily involved as Scotland made a red-hot start on a freezing day at Pittodrie in Aberdeen.

Walker, who was born in Aberdeen, slid over in the left-hand corner on two minutes after being fed by Phil Godman following a succession of purposeful drives from the forwards.

Scotland were denied a second try in the 17th minute when Barclay put a foot into touch as he dived over under pressure from Canada's last defender, lock Tyler Hotson.

Although Scotland remained on the front foot, a combination of Canada's brave defence, some streetwise tactics from the visitors at the breakdown and an all too familiar lack of finishing power from Hadden's men kept the score at just 5-0.

Having earlier turned down two kickable penalties, captain Mike Blair decided to take a simple three points from the boot of Godman to make it 8-0 just after the half-hour mark.

And the first half closed in the same manner as it had begun, Nick De Luca's incisive break and offload to centre partner Cairns paving the way for a simple try.  Godman added the extras to put his side 15-0 at the break.

Scotland added a third try at the start of the second half when the forwards powered Barclay over for the score, referee George Clancy awarding it without reference to the TMO.

Godman converted to make it 22-0 after 42 minutes and Hadden, sensing the result was already secure, replaced Barclay and Allan Jacobsen -- both of whom had started all three November Tests -- with Scott Gray and Alasdair Dickinson.

It remained one-way traffic, the hosts' fourth try arriving on the hour mark when Strokosch plunged over from close range and Godman again landed the extra two points.

Hadden continued to introduce his bench, Dan Parks and Rory Lawson came on in the half-back berths in place of Godman and Blair, and as a result his side lost some of its earlier fluency.

It took a piece of individual brilliance from Walker to put the next score on the board when the former Borders winger scythed through the tiring Canada defence to touch down unopposed with 12 minutes remaining.

Canada, having defended stoutly for most of the game, were now falling off tackles regularly and more good work in midfield from Cairns and De Luca allowed Lamont to power over for his sixth Test try as Scotland reached the 40-point mark.

"We were able to right a few wrongs we have had in the previous weeks," Scotland captain Mike Blair told BBC Sport afterwards.

"We were clinical in patches.  We have not been scoring many and there were some cracking tries today.

"It is a good reward for the autumn Test series.  This capped it off nicely."

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Walker 2, Cairns, Barclay, Strokosch, Lamont
Cons:  Godman 3, Parks
Pen:  Godman

Scotland:  15 Rory Lamont, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Matt Mustchin, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Max Evans.

Canada:  15 James Pritchard, 14 Sean Duke, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Justin Mensah-Coker, 10 Matt Evans, 9 Ed Fairhurst (c), 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Josh Jackson, 4 Tyler Hotson, 3 Scott Franklin, 2 Mike Pletch, 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements:  16 Dan Pletch, 17 Frank Walsh, 18 Mike Burak, 19 Sean Michael Stephen, 20 Morgan Williams, 21 Nathan Hirayama, 22 Bryn Keys.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Steve Terheege (England)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)