IT’S not often a front row is asked whether he was disappointed to be taken off during a game thus denying him the chance of a hat-trick.

However, hooker Stuart McInally had one of those days which, let’s be honest, players in his position so rarely enjoy that it’s not even worth dreaming about.

His first try for Scotland came before half-time and it was followed after the break by his second. Named man of the match, McInally has had worse days at the office.

The 27-year-old wasn’t really gutted to be substituted “I was tired” but it was proud day for a player whose career has run anything but smoothly.

“The first try was from five metres out, but it was my first try for Scotland, so I’ll remember it,” said McInally. “The maul was something we’d targeted before the game, that we wanted to get purchase in and we worked hard on it last week, so it was good that we got some reward for it.

“It’s a good way to get over the line, five metres out knowing you can batter a team like that. Look, the guys in front of me do a lot of work and I just have to fall over the line, but yes, I’m pleased.

“I don’t like putting too much pressure on myself. I did that a lot when I was younger, trying to play so well every week for Edinburgh to try to get to play for Scotland and it didn’t do me any favours, so now I’m just trying to live in the moment a bit more and actually enjoy playing for Scotland without putting too much pressure on myself, and it went well today.”

It was a good day for McInally but overall a strange one for his team. Scotland going forward were terrific, for the most part, but when asked to defend their line, things were very different.

And while asking ‘so what went wrong?’ after a win is for the most part unfair, it wasn’t this time.

“We will need to improve our defence in our 22, and as forwards our pick-and-go defence wasn’t great,” McInally admitted.

“They seemed to be scoring too easily round the fringes which is an area we need to tighten up. We were narrowing and narrowing because of that and they got a try when they went wide with the ten. We need to look at ways to slow the ball down too because they got a lot of quick ball.

“So, they’re things we need to look for solutions to next week.”

And next week will come the biggest test of McInally’s life when he comes up against an All Black side which are world class from front row to full-back, plus all their replacements, and up front they as devilish as they come.

“I will do my homework like everybody else,” he said. “I’ll do a lot of work on the Blacks’ opposite front row now I’m a hooker – I never thought I’d say that a few years ago – and I’ll spend a lot of time watching scrums.

“I like to cover all bases. It keeps me calm going into games knowing that I’ve done everything so I’ll certainly have a good look at them.

“They’re a quality team who like a high ball-in-play time as well. They’ve got a lot of superb individuals and work incredibly well as a team. They have a really good scrum, which I think is underrated, and that’s something I’m really looking forward to – challenging myself against the best team in the world.

“If I get selected for that it will be right up there as one of the highest moments, so I’ll enjoy some downtime tonight but then crack open the laptop over the next couple of days.”

For Samoa, it was a proud end to a truly odd week.

They landed in Scotland with the revelation that the Samoan rugby union is bankrupt and one of the big ideas was a crowd-surfing campaign which, it was hoped, would raise, some much-needed funds.

It would be pushing things to say this was a missed opportunity, although Scotland finished only six points ahead, because they were never ahead. However, lock Chris Vui’s face told its own story. They felt it was a game which was there for them to win.

“I just feel that the result didn’t go our way, but the performance will put us back on the map,” said Vui. “We came here to play rugby and I think he showed that despite losing.”