All Blacks second-string too strong for Scotland

Scotland 6 New Zealand 32:A second-string All Blacks side were still far too good for Scotland as Graham Henry's side cruised to at Murrayfield. New Zealand scored four tries through Anthony Tuitavake, Piri Weepu, Richard Kahui and Anthony Boric as they got their tour to off to the perfect start.

Only Stephen Donald, Ali Williams and Isaia Toeava started last Saturday's Bledisloe Cup victory over Australia in Hong Kong and Henry handed first caps to Kieran Read, Liam Messam and Jamie Mackintosh.

But Scotland never looked likely to record a first win over the All Blacks, 103 years after the first match between the countries, as the pace and power of the visitors proved too much for a courageous but limited and error-prone Scotland team.

Scotland actually made an encouraging start when captain Mike Blair caught the All Blacks off guard with a quick tap penalty and fed Chris Paterson, who was dragged down 10 yards short of the New Zealand line.

The All Blacks killed the ball, though, and with the resulting penalty Paterson kicked Scotland ahead in the third minute.

Their lead lasted just two minutes however as Donald replied with three points of his own after referee Wayne Barnes adjudged Nick De Luca had intentionally kicked the ball out of a ruck.

The Edinburgh centre was sin-binned by the English official for his misdemeanour and Henry's men quickly made use of their numerical advantage when a precise cross-field kick from Donald was collected by right-winger Tuitavake.

He shrugged off the desperate tackle of Paterson to touch down and Donald converted to give the visitors a 10-3 lead in the eighth minute.

Scotland saw out the rest of De Luca's absence without further damage but were penalised for hauling down flanker Adam Thomson in a lineout at the midway point in the half, and Donald added another three points.

Paterson responded in kind when Mackintosh conceded a penalty in the scrum as a result of considerable pressure from Scotland prop Euan Murray.

New Zealand stretched their lead in the 26th minute with a try from Weepu which owed much to a terrific turnover in midfield from the impressive Boric.

After the inexperienced lock stripped Scotland of the ball it was spun wide to elegant centre Kahui and his chip-kick was eventually collected by Weepu.

Donald missed a relatively straightforward conversion chance and Paterson also faltered a minute later with a penalty as the visitors reached the half-hour mark 18-6 ahead.

Boric then blotted his copybook by coming in at the side of a ruck just three yards from his own line and was sin-binned by Barnes.

Scotland pinned the 14 men in black in their own half for most of the remainder of the half but costly errors — such as a rare knock-on from Blair — in addition to well-organised and efficient defence kept them at bay and preserved New Zealand's 12-point lead.

That advantage was extended by seven points just 51 seconds into the new period when Paterson misjudged an up-and-under to allow Kahui to race clear and touch down under the posts.

Donald converted to make it 25-6 and to rub salt into Scotland's wound, Sean Lamont — playing his first game for his country this year — injured his hamstring while chasing Kahui and had to be replaced by Hugo Southwell.

Cory Jane also entered the fray for New Zealand, replacing Toeava at full-back, and 15 minutes into the half Matt Mustchin and Alasdair Dickinson came on for Nathan Hines and Murray, while Weepu and Mackintosh were withdrawn in favour of Andy Ellis and Neemia Tialata.

The game was now extremely disjointed and a rare piece of good rugby saw rookie number eight Liam Messam break Scotland's line and offload to Ellis — only for the replacement scrum-half to knock on with the line at his mercy.

The paucity of attractive rugby in the second half was demonstrated by the fact the introduction of superstar outhalf Dan Carter — 10 minutes after his captain Richie McCaw had entered the fray — elicited a loud cheer from the home crowd.

Boric capped a fine all-round performance — yellow card apart — when he dived over for New Zealand's fourth try five minutes from the end following a speculative kick from Donald.