Scotland’s Nations Championship campaign at Murrayfield ended in a dispiriting 43-21 defeat to New Zealand, a result that lacked the competitive tension of their previous home clashes against the All Blacks. While the match featured a flurry of seven tries before the interval, Scotland failed to score a single point in the second half, allowing the visitors to pull away with ease. As the devisers of this weird Nations Championship will hope, remains to be seen, whether it will feel so for the north in general. At times tries seemed almost too easy to come by.
Ewan Ashman stood out for the hosts, delivering a hat-trick of tries in the opening half to briefly keep pace with the tourists. However, New Zealand proved clinical throughout, scoring seven tries in total. Beauden Barrett was particularly influential, slicing through the Scottish defense to score twice and contributing significantly to the 19 unanswered points the All Blacks posted after the break. No question which team was on it for this one.
Reflecting on the performance, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend admitted his frustration. “You obviously prepare to try and win games,” he said, “but it’s more about delivering a performance we can be proud of, that our supporters can be proud of. And it wasn’t there today. So that’s frustrating.”
The match highlighted the growing prevalence of lineout-and-drive tactics in modern rugby. Six of the seven first-half tries originated from attacking lineouts following penalties kicked to the corner, with four of those scores coming directly from successful mauls. While Ashman secured two of his tries via these set-piece plays, New Zealand showed similar proficiency through Wallace Sititi and Codie Taylor. There has been a feeling for a while that lineout-and-drives have begun to dominate the modern game – and the directives issued during the off-season targeting defensive players disrupting these have hardly discouraged teams from going for the corner.
New Zealand secured a bonus point before the half-hour mark. Beyond their set-piece dominance, the visitors showcased versatile attacking, with Cam Roigard taking a tap penalty after a Beauden Barrett chip to set up an Ethan de Groot try. Beauden Barrett later scored his first of two tries following a sequence of precise interplay, capping off a half where the All Blacks took a three-point lead into the dressing rooms, even after yellow cards were issued to Peter Lakai and Sititi.
The second half began with a tactical shift when New Zealand opted for a scrum from an attacking penalty, leading to a try for Josh Moorby. As the pressure mounted, Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu was sent to the sin bin, further weakening the home side’s defense. Shortly after, the All Blacks exploited the space to put Beauden Barrett over for his second try, effectively silencing the Murrayfield crowd for the final half-hour.
Asafo Aumua eventually claimed the seventh try for New Zealand in the final quarter, utilizing a long throw from a lineout that bypassed the drive to work the ball into space. The result highlights a stark gap between the two sides, with New Zealand and South Africa currently appearing a class apart at the top of the Southern Hemisphere group.
In other Nations Championship action, South Africa maintained their unbeaten form by defeating an injury-hit Italy 66-7 in Turin. Fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu contributed heavily to the Springbok tally, scoring the first of their nine tries and successfully kicking all six of his first-half conversions alongside a penalty. Hooker Malcolm Marx crossed twice, with further scores coming from Morne van den Berg, Siya Kolisi, Damian Willemse, Wilco Louw, and Ethan Hooker.
South Africa’s dominant performance in Turin followed their strong showing in July, where they claimed maximum points to lead the table ahead of New Zealand on points difference. As the competition progresses, the two southern giants continue to command the standings with four bonus-point victories each. Or whether they might be fatigued at the end of their season, we always speculate at this time of year whether it is of advantage to the southern-hemisphere teams to arrive in the north fully match fit.
Scotland’s starting lineup included Rowe, Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu, Dobie, Russell, and White, with Sutherland, Ashman, Z Fagerson, Brown, Cummings, M Fagerson, and Dempsey completing the forwards. New Zealand fielded Beauden Barrett, Jordan, Tupaea, J Barrett, Moorby, McKenzie, and Roigard, supported by De Groot, Taylor, Newell, S Barrett, Holland, Vaa’i, Lakai, and Sititi. Scotland Rowe (Kinghorn 52); Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu (capt), Dobie; Russell (Jordan 63), White (Horne 63); Sutherland (Schoeman 32), Ashman (Hiddleston 66), Z Fagerson (Hurd 66), Brown, Cummings, M Fagerson (Bayliss 63). New Zealand B Barrett; Jordan (Ioane 53), Tupaea, J Barrett (Tavatanawai 66), Moorby; McKenzie, Roigard (Ratima 61); De Groot (Bower 50), Taylor (capt; Aumua 56), Newell (Tosi 63), S Barrett, Holland, Vaa’i (Lio-Willie 7. Tries Sititi, De Groot, Taylor, B Barrett 2, Moorby, Aumua Cons McKenzie 4. And from the dropout Kyle Steyn broke down one wing, Kyle Rowe down the other, and Ashman hit a fine line off Ben White’s pass, huw Jones was held up. New Zealand B Barrett; Jordan (Ioane 53), Tupaea, J Barrett (Tavatanawai 66), Moorby; McKenzie, Roigard (Ratima 61); De Groot (Bower 50), Taylor (capt; Aumua 56), Newell (Tosi 63), S Barrett, Holland, Vaa’i (Lio-Willie 72), Lakai, Sititi (Segner 56).
