Rory Baldwin At BT Murrayfield
It turns out, if you ask 60,000 folk to switch on their phones and turn off all the lights you can turn BT Murrayfield into a sort of chilly giant Christmas tree. Once the All Blacks took the field it was a little less festive, with the haka drowned out by various choruses of Loch Lomond, and chants of “Scotland, Scotland”. The crowd at least, were in defiant mood for the visit of the world champions and world’s best team, New Zealand.
Even his holiness Euan Murray was pumped up, having a shove at All Black hooker James Parsons after a successful scrum and mixing it up when there was a hint of niggle. Facing the All Blacks, Scotland were in a new red strip but they still started the early exchanges at the same frantic pace as we saw against Argentina with Adam Ashe once again to the fore. New Zealand’s tackling was considerably more efficient though, and about as bruising as you’d expect.
When they put together some possession of their own they were grimly efficient at powering through Scottish tackles and keeping the ball moving with offloads from front-row right through to fullback. Richie Gray did well to pounce on a spilled ball, but was then pounced on himself by McCaw and co, earning the visitors a penalty. The great man Dan Carter, back to add to his considerable haul of caps after a long injury break, missed the kick to the delight of the vocal home crowd.
New Zealand, as you feared, would not be denied a score for long and it was – of all things, on the shiny new surface – a player falling over unaided that gifted Victor Vito the space needed to build up steam and barrel through Laidlaw and Hogg as they attempted and failed to usher him into touch.
Things at that moment were looking grim for Scotland, especially with Bennett down receiving treatment for a hamstring injury (it took him off) but that little scene may have distracted Richie McCaw’s eye just enough to throw a pass easy enough for Tommy Seymour to pounce on, running it in for a try. An irate Greig Laidlaw had to drop the conversion without a tee but Scotland found themselves in an unlikely lead.
The teams were evenly matched in the scrums; as long as nobody tried to hook the ball. Out wide, Scotland’s back three of Hogg, Seymour and Maitland was looking a very settled unit while at the breakdown, the promised organised chaos seemed to be working with Scotland getting more turnovers than last week. It wasn’t horrible to watch at all, but the All Blacks were controlling the areas of the park well and Scotland played a lot in their own half of the pitch.
This meant any little mishaps like a charge-down would result in a period of furious defending, cheered all the way by the crowd. But there was a sense of delaying the inevitable even if the score was only a Dan Carter kick rather than a 5 pointer.
The Scots were perhaps a little too keen with their linespeed and referee Roman Poite was tiring of offsides, which was worrying in light of last week’s disciplinary lapses. Also very worrying was the fact that by half an hour – as Carter slotted another penalty – Scotland had used Weir, Cross and Lamont from their bench already (although Russell came back from the concussion bin with a clean bill of health).
Scotland had a good spell just after that with two great bits of lineout disruption from Jonny Gray, and an All Black indiscretion earning Greig Laidlaw an easy kick at goal.
Fresh on for Murray (groin injury), Geoff Cross earned himself a black mark giving away a penalty that was easily kickable. Playing the “championship minutes” game, New Zealand went for the corner instead to try and make their half time lead a little more decisive. Sadly (for them) they knocked it on and Scotland were able to win a scrum; which Cross was then adjudged to have collapsed. His beard may be impressive but his attempts to reclaim the tighthead shirt for Scotland were less so.
Carter this time opted for the kick at goal and sent the All Blacks in ahead.
But not by much.
Half Time: Scotland 10 – 14 New Zealand
New Zealand came out with high intensity in the second half as they often do, but Crotty’s attacking chip went dead and it was Scotland with some canny use of ball that made territory up the park, with Russell once again marshalling things nicely and Ashe seemingly everywhere.
Another penalty kick for Laidlaw was just reward, closing New Zealand’s lead back to a point.
This wasn’t vintage New Zealand, but you know you have seen a good Scotland performance when the opposition suddenly look a bit ordinary. Huge hits in defence forced balls loose and the crowd roared on every one.
With all the fumbles there were plenty of scrums, where Scotland about held their own, winning some and losing some. As usual, it was a refereeing lottery. Still, with the game played at a high tempo outside of the set-piece, the scrums were perhaps a welcome breather for the whole team, who had never stopped tackling or running.
Finn Russell had another assured game even opposite the illustrious Carter and the Gray brothers made New Zealand’s second rows look almost anonymous (even if one of them did get the man of the match). It’s hard to pick individuals out though as both sides were playing as a collective – something not new to New Zealand but possibly so for Scotland.
As the third quarter of the game ticked over into the fourth and New Zealand emptied the bench – Scotland’s was largely bare already – the play was characterised by several spells of either edge of the seat defending or attacking by Scotland, but almost all conducted in their own 22 as they struggled for headway against a black tide.
Slade (now at 10) and Laidlaw exchanged penalties to keep the tension level high, and it was set for a frantic last ten minutes with history on the line.
Roared on by the crowd, Scotland marched up field and Wyatt Crockett breached the frontier a little too quickly for Poite’s liking to earn Laidlaw another pot at goal.
Agonising gasps all round, as he missed. Would that be one that haunts him like the one that haunts Peter Dods?
Not even a streaker could break the tenstion; 8 minutes to play and Scotland just a point off the lead. When the All Black strike occurred, it almost slipped past, Thrush rumbling past battered and exhausted Scottish defenders.
Suddenly the hope was gone and it was 16-24, in the blink of an eye. For a game played in a cracking atmosphere, the crowd deflated pretty quickly as New Zealand soaked up the pressure and held the ball. Scotland rallied bravely to attempt a consolation try and the supersub Sean Lamont almost found a gap.
It was not to be, but there was still a massive amount to be taken from this game for Scotland.
They weren’t undone by ineptitude or superior pace and handling. Or a lack of a gameplan.
They were undone by the need to keep up the fierce level of intensity for 80 minutes that you have to playing the world’s best, if you are not the world’s best.
Few of them would have seen it before, but they have seen and felt it now and know what they must aspire to compete with. And for most of this absorbing test match, they did.
Referee: Roman Poite (Fra)
Attendance: 66,004
Man of the Match: as last week, a toss up between Jonny Gray and Adam Ashe while Richie Gray had another big game. Jonny Gray gets it for some of the huge hits, some great lineout work and tireless support work that kept his side right in the game.