There were lovely moments in all of those Tests, but Scotland’s big mantra coming into the autumn was all about making life difficult for opponents, making sure every yard they made in possession was only won after a battle, every try they scored was only achieved after fighting for their lives through the phases.
Worthy sentiments and an important mission statement, but four minutes into it on Saturday, New Zealand threw a bit of trickery at Scotland at a lineout and scored with ease.
The piece of deception – two runners bolting off a lineout as decoy men – has been done by a few teams already this season. It wasn’t a revelation but it was enough to fool Scotland.
The irony came in the name of the scorer. Scotland wanted their defence to be Braveheart in its, well, brutality. Wallace Sititi scored that first try. The back-row was named after William Wallace. So much for freedom from concession of soft scores.
The All Blacks got to 43 points with 12 minutes left. They could have had more, but they’d made their point. They’re back. Not at Springbok level, clearly, but improving.
Rennie, and his sidekick Mike Blair, have brought huge improvement in a relatively short time. These All Blacks are light years ahead of the version Scott Robertson brought here 12 months ago.
Townsend must now piece together shattered morale and go again next Sunday. The Wallabies are up next. Scotland have won four of their past five against Australia, all under Townsend, and will be expected to make it five from six.
The Wallabies will fancy a crack at them, though. They’ll respect Scotland’s ability with ball in hand but relish a shot at exposing the weakness in their ranks. You don’t need 20-20 vision to spot the frailties in this team. The All Blacks found them with ease in that sobering second-half schooling.
Leave a Reply