All Blacks 49
Scotland 3
In the week between Twickenham and Murrayfield, the All Black coaches preached patience and their restraint yielded seven tries.
They demanded more physicality, then proceeded to win nearly every collision.
Unlike against England, they insisted an inferior foe was not to be given a shred of hope. The scoreline is
enough to suggest this was achieved.
It was not perfect. After a blistering first half hour, the first half petered out, while a raft of second-half substitutions had the inevitable effect of making the game momentarily shapeless. But as the video review begins before attention shifts to Ireland next week at a newly renovated Lansdowne Rd, there will be far more ticks than crosses.
"The things we wanted to work on from last week, which was building a bit of pressure and making better decisions, we did. We didn't let them off the hook like last week," captain Richie McCaw said.
The All Blacks had the advantage of catching the Scots cold.
The home side has enjoyed a period of renaissance under English coach Andy Robinson, but playing a test match-hardened side when your players are coming out of club rugby was asking for a mismatch.
It will be a better side that faces South Africa in six days, but that will be little comfort to captain John Barclay and Robinson, who yesterday talked about "letting the nation down", a mite too strong considering Scotland teams have been trying and failing to beat the All Blacks for 105 years.
"New Zealand were outstanding in the way they play the game of rugby," Robinson said. "We were unable to match that. We dropped off tackles in the first 20 minutes and the game was over."
Hosea Gear scored first, after Sonny Bill Williams took the ball through the line and popped an outrageous pass to the winger.
Minutes later Dan Carter was in after loose ball from a Williams tackle was scooped up by the impressive Liam Messam. Isaia Toeava broke free down the right flank before in-passing to the first five-eighth.
Muliaina benefited from a Messam-Carter interchange before Gear got his second courtesy of a broken Scottish line and a lack of desperation from the cover. That made it 28-3 at the break and the Scots were left clinging on for pride only.
"They expose you. They're great runners and the support play of their outside backs and the offloading is tremendous. They put us on the back foot the whole time," Robinson said.
"It's an outstanding team. Every player is comfortable with the ball in hand and they dominate the collisions. Every tackle they made was very physical. At times the props were playing at No 10, moving the ball and they did it very, very well."
Robinson might have marvelled at the fluidity and interchangeability of the All Blacks, but his side made it too easy for them.
Their willingness to stretch play from flank to flank was admirable, but in the end it was playing into All Black hands.
"I thought we defended very well," Henry said. "We pushed from the inside, kept on our feet, didn't over-commit at the tackle area and we were a bit more physical than we had been for some time.
"I was a wee bit concerned coming into this tour that we had played a lot of test matches, some big test matches against Australia and South Africa, and I just wondered whether the real edge was still there.
"[It] went up a couple of levels in physicality, which was pleasing."
Life will not be so easy in Dublin.
The Irish are match hardened. The width of the upright prevented them drawing with South Africa, though they made a hash of dispatching Samoa by just 10 points yesterday.
They are unlikely to play as much rugby as Scotland, preferring to keep turning the All Blacks around while hoping to frustrate them into mistakes.
Frankly, if New Zealand play with the physical intent, patience and accuracy they showed in the first half hour at Murrayfield, it will matter little what Ireland do.
