Fired-up Hogg so close to delivering knockout blow to slipshod All Blacks
Scotland fell agonisingly short of pulling off the greatest result in their history. New Zealand finished the final 20 minutes with 14 men, desperately wobbling against the ropes, but Scotland could not apply the knockout blow.
It would have been fitting had full-back Stuart Hogg, the clear man of the match, applied it. After Huw Jones’s stunning try with three minutes left, Murrayfield had already been transformed into a mosh-pit as Hogg launched the final attack down the left. He was eventually hauled down by flyhalf Beauden Barrett, the other standout player on the pitch, and the offload went forward as the 112-year wait for a first win over the All Blacks slipped by.
Gregor Townsend, the Scotland head coach, had his head in his hands; so did most inside Murrayfield. Dozens In yesterday’s Daily Telegraph we said that Brad Shields snubbed a call-up for the All Blacks. In fact, Shields did not turn down the offer as it was withdrawn once the All Blacks learned he was moving to England. We are happy to set the record straight. of contrasting emotions swirled around the biting Edinburgh night; enormous pride at the performance versus the overwhelming disappointment of a once in a lifetime opportunity missed.
“Pride would be the major emotion,” Townsend said. “I think the effort and the ability shown by the players throughout the game was outstanding. The courage and the fitness to keep on going with 10 minutes to go was great to see and encouraging for the future. Also the belief within the squad when we were down by 12 to go back there. It generated a brilliant atmosphere, it was one of the best I have experienced watching a game.”
For much of the contest it was difficult to tell which side were the double world champions. Partly that was because of New Zealand’s sloppiness, which has been a recurring theme throughout 2017, but mainly it was because Scotland were simply the better side, particularly in a strangely compelling first half that finished 3-3.
In defence, the outstanding John Barclay had more than a passable resemblance to Richie McCaw with his efforts at the breakdown. Stuart McInally was everywhere. Indeed, the hooker finished playing in the back row after the unfortunate Luke Hamilton, making his debut as a replacement, suffered a nasty ankle injury.
Yet this was more than a case of Scots tenacity, though they had that by the bucketload. There was plenty of class, mainly centred around Hogg, but also through the control of half-backs Ali Price and Finn Russell. They finished the second half with 74 per cent possession and 77 per cent territory. The difference, then, was one of precision. Scotland had 17 trips to the New Zealand 22 but that only yielded points from a Russell penalty and Jonny Gray pushover until Jones struck late on. As is their wont, New Zealand let far fewer chances slip. Hooker Codie Taylor and full back Damian McKenzie finished well-worked scores before an outrageous Sonny Bill Williams offload led to what proved to be Barrett’s match-winning score.
It was a piece of skill worthy of winning any game and allows New Zealand to roll on to Cardiff next week, where New Zealand coach Steve Hansen gets to cross swords with Warren Gatland again.
“I thought it was a great game of football,” Hansen said. “Scotland stood up to be counted and so did we. Test matches are called Test matches because they are a test of your mental resolve and skill and both teams contributed to a fine match. The biggest positive we can take is that we played a very good side who put us under pressure and we found a way to win playing 20 minutes with 14 men.”
It was guaranteed to be an emotional occasion after Doddie Weir, pictured left, the great Scotland second row diagnosed with motor neurone disease, presented the match ball. Everyone in the stadium, including both sets of players, applauded him every step of the way.
Scotland were quick to tap into those feelings, Russell putting Scotland ahead in the seventh minute with a penalty that was forced by Barclay. The fly-half missed his next shot at goal while Scotland twice turned down shots at goal. The lead was eliminated in the final minute of the half as Barrett profited from a moment of over-enthusiasm by Barclay.
The wind seemed to have been taken out of Scotland’s sails as New Zealand scored twice at the start of the second half. Rieko Ioane gathered Aaron Smith’s box kick and burst through a crowd of bodies before offloading to Taylor. The hooker was eventually hauled but after swinging the play left to right and then back again, he was left in acres of space to gather Ioane’s pass to score. Williams turned provider for the second try, providing a grubber for McKenzie that was virtually identical to Ryan Crotty’s try against France last week.
There are plenty of examples of Scotland buckling at this point but they have become a tougher proposition under Vern Cotter and now Townsend. They eventually got their reward as they pounded away at the All Blacks try line.
Sam Cane, the openside flanker, was sin-binned for killing the ball and eventually Gray identified an opening to squeeze his giant frame over the line. Russell converted to make it 10-15 and with a man advantage it was game on.
That was until Barrett struck in the 67th minute. From a midfield scrum, Williams thundered forward, found McKenzie with an incredible offload on the angle on the angle who in turn found Barrett. Still Scotland would not accept fate and when Hogg created a try for Jones with three minutes to go the whole stadium swelled. It would have been fitting had Hogg had the final word but it was not meant to be.
Injury robbed the full-back of his Lions place, but he showed what they missed at Murrayfield yesterday
Stuart Hogg’s default setting is a cheery cockiness, yet in the lead-up to this game there was an almost wistful thoughtfulness to the Borderer’s public utterances. He would be particularly careful with his words when he was asked about the legacy of his anticlimactic Lions adventure.
Yes, it was one of the biggest disappointments of his career when Conor Murray’s elbow fractured his eye socket against the Crusaders, he would say quietly. Yes, he heard that Warren Gatland said he would have been in the starting XV had he stayed fit. The only time he answered in the negative was when he said no, he could never get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play the All Blacks back. The best he could do, he said, was to show the All Blacks, when they came to Murrayfield, what they had missed.
Yesterday the Kiwis witnessed Hogg in his full pomp, and you can only imagine that they breathed a slight sigh of relief that it was Liam Williams rather than Hogg wearing the Lions No 15 shirt last summer. Sure, the Welshman did great things and set up one of the great Lions tries, but yesterday Hogg was so often the Kiwis’ worst nightmare: a man on a mission.
Had there been 14 clones of the Borderer on the pitch with him this match would surely not be remembered as one which they should have won, but one which they did. Every time Hogg got the ball good things happened.
Within two minutes of the start he had carved his way past Ryan Crotty and Waisake Naholo on halfway, making huge inroads into New Zealand territory and drawing panicked defenders to him, only for Cornell du Preez to drop Hogg’s perfectly delivered offload, a pass that would have sent the Jokbok hurtling towards the line on his first Murrayfield start.
That, though, was just the beginning. On his next touch Hogg took on Beauden Barrett, almost squirming his way past the visitors’ stand-off. Nor was Barrett’s next interaction with the Scot much fun for the man who is arguably the best rugby player on the planet right now; Barrett kicked a long grubber, only for Hogg to field it outside his 22 and send a raking kick the length of the pitch, the ball eventually going into touch five metres from the New Zealand line.
With Scotland leading 3-0 thanks to a Finn Russell penalty, they won another penalty, this time a long-range effort. As Russell stepped up to take the kick, a wag in the crowd shouted “give it to Hoggie”. He’d have probably got it, too.
If there was ever a sign that Hawick’s finest was becoming a pain in the visitors’ derrieres, it came before half-time when he went up to claim a high ball and was levelled in mid-air by Fijian dump-truck Naholo.
The Scotland full-back was soon back on his feet and back to his best, though. Moments later he took the ball down the left wing until hauled down just three yards short.
Then, with the half virtually over and Scotland turning over New Zealand ball once again in their own half, Hogg crafted a gloriously astute cross-field kick, and for good measure raced over to scrag Sonny Bill Williams, dragging the huge centre to the floor and setting up a Scottish lineout in New Zealand’s 22.
Whenever the full-back touched the ball there was a palpable buzz of anticipation from the crowd.
Hogg promised that he would make amends for missing out on the Lions, vowing to leave nothing out on the pitch. But he lied. He left carnage out there.