SONNY’S THE BOY FOR KIWIS

A MOMENT of New Zealand magic denied Scotland a famous victory in a pulsating contest at BT Murrayfield.

With the game in the balance, Sonny Bill Williams broke through the midfield before offloading to Damian McKenzie, who fed Beauden Barrett (right) to maintain the All Blacks’ hold over Scotland.

Stuart Hogg made a brilliant dart for the line in the dying moments but was tackled metres short to close out a brilliant performance from Gregor Townsend’s side.

New Zealand have never lost to the Dark Blues, and that piece of history looked under threat after Jonny Gray’s try pulled the scores back to 15-10 at one point in the second half, but Barrett’s try put them out of sight despite Huw Jones giving the home crowd fresh hope.

There was a real buzz around the ground at kickoff inspiring the hosts to a fine start.

Hogg made a couple of early breaks but it was the boot of Finn Russell that put the hosts into an early, and deserved, lead.

However, the All Blacks went into the break level as John Barclay went in off his feet at the breakdown and gave Barrett the chance to kick a simple three points.

Scotland were dealt a harsh blow at the start of the second half through some slack defence. Ali Price let Rieko Ioane claim a high ball before a poor tackle allowed Codie Taylor to gallop free down the wing. The ball made its way back out to Taylor on the wing to touch down.

The All Blacks pounced again as Williams kicked through for McKenzie to dive on over the line to open up a 12-point lead.

The hosts showed good character to hit back as Gray stretched over the line.

It took a moment of setpiece brilliance from New Zealand as Barrett raced in to re-establish the 12-point gap.

But Scotland hit back again when Jones raced in to make for an exciting finish.