Rugby: Ill-disciplined All Blacks escape to avoid first Scotland loss

Mark Telea celebrates with teammates after scoring the All Blacks' final try against Scotland. Photo / Getty Images

All Blacks 31 Scotland 23

By Liam Napier at Murrayfield

Another so-close, so-far occasion for Scotland.

As they strode onto Murrayfield, before a 62,500 sell-out crowd, Scotland dared to dream of a historic day — of going where they had never been before.

For much of this match, Scotland had every right to believe they could defy 115 years of history to record their first win against the All Blacks — and follow Argentina and Ireland’s record-breaking feats this year.

As with each of their 32 battles, though, the All Blacks eventually found a way to quell their nerves and face off the brave Scottish challenge.

From an All Blacks perspective, this performance was anything but convincing.

Edinburgh loves to adopt the thistle as an emblem and Scotland sure proved a thorn in the All Blacks’ side. The locals recovered from conceding two early tries to score 23 unanswered points — holding the All Blacks scoreless from the eighth to 61st minute — to leave the tourists seriously rattled for large periods.

Scotland led by nine points with 19 minutes remaining, only for a yellow card against former Wallabies turned Scotland flanker Jack Dempsey to turn the tide for the All Blacks.

Dempsey looked to have eyes for the tackle only but was ruled to have made a deliberate knockdown. Scott Barrett crashed over immediately after to hand the All Blacks their first lead since the 15th minute.

With that buffer the All Blacks seized the direct route to work their way downfield where Mark Telea further impressed on debut to claim his second try.

Aside from Telea, Blues skipper Dalton Papalii was the standout for the All Blacks with his defence and breakdown presence coming to the fore.

The All Blacks’ ball control and security will be in major focus in the days to come. Their breakdown in particular delivered scrappy ball with the pack often lacking urgency to the cleanout which allowed Scotland’s fetchers to regularly get over the ball. The new-look midfield also failed to gel.

Ill-discipline, inaccurate kicking and panicked decision-making crept into the All Blacks ranks while they trailed as they attempted to run out from their 22, losing the ball in the process.

The All Blacks went to the bench to inject Rieko Ioane for David Havili with 27 minutes remaining. Not long after, the bench was almost completely emptied — barring Stephen Profeta — as the All Blacks sought a response. Shannon Frizell, Codie Taylor and George Bower added notable impact in the final quarter.

While the All Blacks escaped, the tense nature of this contest brings into sharp focus the risky decision to make seven starting changes — and two further positional tweaks — after the first-choice team demolished Wales in Cardiff last week.

In their quest to back that up and deliver consistent performances for the first time this season, the All Blacks again fell well short but they did improve their record to six straight wins.

Emotion filled the crisp air on a glorious, sun-drenched Remembrance Day.

The All Blacks immediately sucked enthusiasm from locals with two tries in the opening eight minutes. Samisoni Taukei’aho started as he continued with the first of many relentless ball-carrying efforts pushing him over the line. Telea celebrated his debut on the right wing with the All Blacks’ second try — after attacking kicks from Beauden and Jordie Barrett.

At that early stage, it was formulaic for the All Blacks. The match turned, though, with a penalty try and yellow card against Anton Lienert-Brown for taking Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg out as he attempted to gather his chip in goal following a well-worked set move that split the All Blacks close to their ruck.

Havili then threw an intercept straight into Darcy Graham’s hands. The Scottish wing was good enough to beat a desperate Caleb Clarke tackle and stand up Jordie Barrett to level the contest.

When Lienert-Brown returned 10 minutes later, Scotland were well on top. The crowd transformed from shouting complaints about ticket prices to singing with the bagpipes.

Scotland pressed hard for the remainder of the half, with Graham denied a second for a foot in touch as he dove for the line.

The All Blacks desperately defended to snaffle three breakdown penalties on their line — Papalii a major force — but Scotland deserved their 17-14 halftime advantage.

Scotland applied pressure and had their chances to achieve history in the second half but as the All Blacks move forth to Twickenham for their final match of the year, this test will ultimately be registered as another familiar chapter.

So close, so far for Scotland.

All Blacks: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Scott Barrett, Mark Telea 2 tries, Jordie Barrett con 3, pen

Scotland: Penalty try, Darcy Graham tries, Finn Russell con, pen 3

HT: 17-14