Scots let it slip and blow chance to make history
SCOTLAND 23 NEW ZEALAND 31
Crestfallen Gregor townsend rued scotland’s inability to secure an historic victory after new Zealand fought back in the closing stages at Murrayfield yesterday.
the scots looked on course for their first triumph over the all Blacks when they scored 23 points without reply to wipe out the visitors’ early 14-0 lead.
But townsend lamented the fact they were unable to maintain their dominance as tries from scott Barrett and Mark telea turned the match back in new Zealand’s favour.
‘I feel mainly disappointment,’ the scotland head coach said. ‘We don’t get to play new Zealand every couple of years like we used to, it has been five years since the last meeting. that will be the biggest lead we have had over new Zealand in our history and we didn’t win.
‘We scored 23 points to nil during a 50-minute period. With those margins you have to kick on and win. You have to see out the win and we did not do it.’
townsend admitted it was one of the sorest defeats of his reign. ‘Probably Japan in the 2019 World Cup will be up there with this,’ he said. ‘But this is disappointing because we have never beaten them in our history, so when you play like that and get
a lead, you feel you should win and we didn’t.’
townsend was frustrated at the manner in which scotland relinquished their lead after losing Jack Dempsey to a yellow card. ‘We controlled a fair bit of our own destiny in those last 15 minutes,’ he said.
‘new Zealand were always going to come back into it, and we allowed them to get better field positions and penalties. I didn’t think they were doing anything different.’