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A 33rd attempt, a 31st defeat and crucially still no win for Scotland against the All Blacks. And so the search will go on. Let us not resort to that familiar lament, if Scotland could not win it here, will they ever? It is true, they had as gilt-edged a chance as they may ever have, New Zealand forced to play a total of half an hour a man down, having been shown three yellow cards. It is true, Scotland showed remarkable spirit to recover from 17-0 down at the break to level on the hour. But the All Blacks remain deadly, deadlier than Scotland.
This Scotland team is deadly too, but it is a question of deadliness when it matters. That is where they continue to come up short. New Zealand wrote the manual – and did that a long time ago.
This time it was Damien McKenzie who proved the difference. His stunning 50-22 with 10 minutes remaining and the scores still locked at 17-17 set up pretty much New Zealand’s first attacking position of the half. His brilliant finish in the corner a couple of minutes and a couple of attacking lineouts later gave the All Blacks the lead just when it matters. Then, with a minute to go, he landed a penalty from an angled 45 metres or so to put them more than a score ahead. Crushing. Or, more accurately, fatally piercing.
Scotland were brave as always. Gregor Brown had a sterling match in the back row, as did Jack Dempsey. But, opposite them, Wallace Sititi, yellow card notwithstanding, was remarkable too.
Times may come, times may go, the All Blacks fluctuating between the convincing and the less so, but that thing they have nailed more than anyone, the ability to score at a game’s most vulnerable points, still seems to apply. As if to encourage Scotland, the fates saw to it that they enjoyed a juicy 10 minutes either side of half-time a man up, when Leroy Carter was shown yellow for a cynical trip on the fast-escaping Darcy Graham.
Sure enough, Scotland, 10-0 down at that point, came at them from all angles, which is quite a few when this quick-witted side are in the mood. Graham had already been held up over the line when he and Blair Kinghorn wove some magic down the right, and this time Scotland’s attack culminated with Rory Hutchinson going for it. He was comfortably held up as well by a phalanx of All Blacks in white.
New Zealand compensated for their missing winger cleverly by maintaining their width in defence, forcing Scotland to turn inside time and again. Then they struck, you guessed it, just before the break. Sititi galloped and dummied down the left and turned the ball inside to Will Jordan to canter to the posts. That was 17-0, and Murrayfield sighed.
Ireland 41-10 Japan
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Ireland bounced back from defeat by New Zealand by beginning their home autumn internationals with a 41-10 win over Japan in Dublin. After last weekend’s deflating 26-13 loss to the All Blacks in Chicago, tries from Jack Crowley and Nick Timoney (pictured) helped Andy Farrell’s much-changed side overcome a slow start at the Aviva Stadium.
Eddie Jones' Brave Blossoms trailed only 17-10 at half-time after Kenji Sato's score and five points from the boot of Lee Seung-sin. But the hosts, who face upcoming appointments against Australia and world champions South Africa, improved significantly in the second period.. But the hosts, who face upcoming appointments against Australia and the world champions, South Africa, improved significantly in the second period. Andrew Porter crossed to increase Ireland’s lead before wing Tommy O’Brien sealed victory after Gus McCarthy and Paddy McCarthy each came off the bench to touch down. Crowley also kicked seven points, with replacement fly-half Sam Prendergast slotting two conversions.
Asked if he got the response he wanted to the deflating defeat to the All Blacks, Andy Farrell, who made eight alterations to his starting XV, replied: “In short, no. Certainly not in the first half. But the response that we wanted from half-time onwards was pleasing enough because when you make a good few errors within your game it can suppress you a little bit.
“We were feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit and the mood wasn’t how it should be. But how we got over ourselves and got some tempo back into the game in the second half is credit to the lads."
Farrell has concerns over full-back Jamie Osborne, who was forced off injured in the 65th minute. “It doesn’t look good, poor lad – you could see by the way he was holding his arm,” said Farrell. “I thought he might have broken something. But it’s the shoulder, we think, that was out of place and back in place now. But to know that for sure we’ll have to get a look at that.”
Eddie Jones felt his side missed an opportunity to record a famous victory. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game in the first half, probably went into half-time with a little bit of momentum, Ireland had [Jacob] Stockdale in the bin,” said the Australian. “But we didn’t take advantage of the sin-bin and then – whether we got disappointed – we just faded badly in the last 30 minutes. PA Media
Photograph: Niall Carson/PA
Up till then, the match had not particularly gone to script. Usually it is the Scots who pummel away, only to be stung on the counter. This time, New Zealand scored early after the quick-thinking and striding Josh Lord sent Cameron Roigard over in the third minute. And still New Zealand came. One extraordinary defensive stand round the 20-minute mark suggested Scotland might just be able to handle their hosts after all.
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That feeling was all the more compelling when they tore into the second half and actually made it tell. Ewan Ashman finished off a lineout and drive five minutes in, with New Zealand back to a full complement. Ardie Savea was sent to the bin then, and Scotland struck again. Another lineout, a big carry from Sione Tuipulotu, another from Dempsey, and Kinghorn put Kyle Steyn away. Finn Russell’s penalty on the hour levelled.
When Sititi became the latest to receive a yellow a minute later for a deliberate knock-on, Murrayfield dared to believe. Alas, as per, that was just about when New Zealand focused that laser of theirs.
Close, Scotland. But there remains a dimension of performance to which the All Blacks have a key and their brave hosts do not.
