Scotland struggled to contain the visitors before the break

The Barbarians continued their victorious march across Britain with a hard-fought victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

After ending England's long unbeaten run at Twickenham on Sunday, the touring side ran in four tries, all in the first half.

Scott Staniforth, Darren Edwards, Ollie Le Roux and Aurelien Rougerie all crossed the Scottish line, with Felipe Contepomi adding two conversions.

But, after threatening to be overrun, the home side fought back well, James McLaren replying before the break and Glenn Metcalfe grabbing the only try of the second half.

The outcome might have been different had we not lost the ball at crucial moments Scotland coach Ian McGeechan

Scotland trailed 24-8 at half-time and the Baa-Baas exploited a weak home defence after just two minutes as Australian wing Scott Staniforth crossed for the opening try.

Argentine stand-off Contepomi converted from an awkward angle.

MATCH FACTS Scotland 15 (8) Tries: McLaren, Metcalfe Con: Paterson Pen: Paterson Barbarians 24 (24) Tries: Staniforth, Edwards, Le Roux, Rougerie Cons: Contepomi 2

Scotland attempted to respond with an up-and-under by Chris Paterson aimed at wing James McLaren.

But the ball was snaffled by the Barbarians, who set up a counter attack that led to their second try.

From a lineout drive, the ball was expertly recycled for London Irish scrum-half Darren Edwards to move around the narrow side for a simple touchdown.

Contepomi narrowly missed the kick and Scotland edged back into the contest in the 21st minute when McLaren dashed over after good work by flanker Jon Petrie.

Paterson failed with the touchline conversion but made amends by slotting a 40-metre penalty.

But the Baa-Baas reasserted their authority with two more tries before the break.

First, Le Roux ploughed over following strong work by his fellow Springbok AJ Venter. Contepomi added the extras.

The Baa-Baas failed to score in the second half

Then French wing Rougerie darted over after leaving Metcalfe and Simon Webster for dead.

Neither side failed to add to their tally in a scoreless third quarter as Scotland shored up their defence but were unable to finish off their promising approach work.

They remained camped on the Baa-Baas 22 but lacked the pace and penetration to seriously trouble the visitors.

Their persistence paid off in the 67th minute, though, when Metcalfe powered over under the posts after a quickly-taken penalty from scrum-half Mike Blair.

Paterson bagged the extra points on a mixed evening for the new stand-off, but a well-drilled Baa-Baas defence held firm thereafter to keep the Scots at bay.

Afterwards, Scotland coach Ian McGeechan was upbeat despite the defeat.

"The key thing was to get decent match-practice before heading out to Durban - and after a hesitant start, we got exactly that in the second half," he said.

"I was greatly encouraged by our performance after the interval when we took the game to them and prevented them from scoring.

"The outcome might have been different had we not lost the ball at crucial moments."

Scotland: G Metcalfe (Glasgow), S Webster (Edinburgh), B Laney (Edinburgh), G Townsend (Borders) (capt), J McLaren (Bordeaux-Begles), C Paterson, M Blair (both Edinburgh), G Kerr (Leeds Tykes), G Bulloch (Glasgow), B Douglas (Borders), S Murray, N Hines, M Leslie (all Edinburgh), J Petrie (Glasgow), S Taylor (Edinburgh).
Replacements: D Hall (Edinburgh), G McIlwham (Bordeaux-Begles), J White (Sale Sharks), A Dall (Edinburgh), B Redpath (Sale Sharks), A Henderson (Glasgow), R Kerr (Glasgow).

Barbarians: Conrad Jantjes (South Africa), Scott Staniforth (Australia), De Wet Barry (South Africa), Daryl Gibson (New Zealand), Aurelien Rougerie (France), Felipe Contepomi (Argentina), Agustin Pichot (Argentina), Ollie Le Roux (South Africa), Raphael Ibanez (France), Adrian Garvey (South Africa), Mick Galwey (Ireland) (capt), Hottie Louw (South Africa), Troy Flavell (New Zealand), A J Venter (South Africa), Santiago Phelan (Argentina).
Replacements: Matt Sexton (Ulster), Franck Tournaire (France), Ryan Strudwick (London Irish), Olivier Magne (France), Darren Edwards (London Irish), Matt Perry (England), Cristian Stoica (Italy).

Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales).

Attendance: 27,526