Sat 18 Nov 2017 | 04:11
New Zealand hang on to beat Scotland after dramatic finale in Edinburgh

7
Comments

New Zealand survived a monumental late fight-back from Gregor Townsend's Scotland to claim a narrow 22-17 victory at BT Murrayfield on Saturday.

Scotland dominated proceedings for the opening quarter but were left ruing missed opportunities, as Steve Hansen's All Blacks appeared to struggle early on.

Two minutes into the second period, New Zealand finally kicked into gear and pounced through Codie Taylor's try, created by a superbly-floated pass from Rieko Ioane.

Sonny Bill Williams was the initiator for the All Blacks' second try as a deft chip ahead in behind the Scottish defence sat up perfectly for Damien McKenzie to cruise under the posts.

Notably, it was what New Zealand did when they were down on numbers that ultimately settled the match. Twice they were reduced to 14-men – with Sam Cane and Wyatt Crockett sin-binned for repeated infringements.

But their third try while Cane was still off the field was a beauty. McKenzie latched on to Williams' offload to feed Barrett – on the wing – to sprint over for a try which (temporarily) silenced the Murrayfield crowd.

Jonny Gray kept the Scots firmly in the game with a brilliant stretch for the line prior to Barrett's score down the other end, before Huw Jones scored arguably the best try of the Autumn Internationals.

Stuart Hogg's chip ahead was snapped up by Tommy Seymour, who showed great quick hands to feed the on-rushing Jones, who streaked all the way to the line to score. Russell added the crucial conversion to bring the deficit down to just a solitary try.

New Zealand were clinging on to dear life and with Crockett in the bin, Scotland pounded the defensive line and with time up on the clock, looked certain to score as Hogg once more burst through the attempted tackle of McKenzie.

Critically, Barrett's exceptional last-gasp tackle forced a forward pass from Hogg just as the full-back was about to offload, securing a thrilling victory.

Match Highlights

7 Comments

  • joeythelemur
    1:59 PM 22/11/2017

    Fair enough. It was more a comment on the type of interpretation on those plays as it was a comment on the play itself.

  • drg
    9:09 PM 21/11/2017

    Making up for decades of being invisible I guess...

  • oliver
    10:16 AM 21/11/2017

    damn that last bit of play!
    seems like the number of cards is really stacking up for the AB's lately. How many in the last year? it seems to me they've been getting at least one yellow in every game lately.

    also the ref missed this......could have been another card:

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6a25bi

  • breakaway
    6:13 AM 21/11/2017

    Like your previous self, perhaps, mine spent many years playing and watching a game in which this would have been 'play on' and nobody would've batted an eyelid. I'm not saying that the new laws covering these things from a safety angle are not worthwhile, just that there needs to be some common sense. I don't want to see matches ruined when a player leaping at speed for the ball, travelling some distance in the air while doing so and landing on an opposition player, always results in a red. I believe a red card has to require a degree of intent that is not obvious in this incident. Nadolo seemed more concerned about his own safety.

  • drg
    3:24 AM 21/11/2017

    It's very difficult to maintain a level opinion...see judging this incident based off all the overzealous previous incidents we've seen recently, I'd have to agree with Joey and scream red red red!...

    ..but when I consider what I myself actually want to see happening in the game, I can't help but agree with yourself...in fact, soul searching only leads me to remember my previous self where'd I'd have told them all to stop flapping around and be disgusted at the fact it was a penalty and not just a 'play on'...

  • breakaway
    11:46 PM 20/11/2017

    Naholo had to run around the #9 and once he saw Hogg flying towards him his only hope of avoiding a penalty would have been to disappear completely. Hogg just landed on him. In my opinion, this sort of situation has to be treated differently to one where there is a deliberate tackle or reckless contact made on the player during a contest for a high ball. Unfortunately World Rugby seem to be impervious to my opinion on anything, but I think the ref got it right this time.

  • joeythelemur
    8:03 PM 20/11/2017

    No idea how Naholo didn't get sent off. I see where the 9 was, but really couldn't tell from the camera angle why they considered that enough reason to mitigate.

    Loved that second try from Scotland, and SBW is sure playing well with the newfound kicking game and another huge offload. ABs would have been in deep trouble and probably lose without those plays.