Barrett pulls out a rabbit

Bend the rules? Not us

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

With the game firmly in the balance, Sonny Bill Williams broke through the midfield before offloading to Damian Mckenzie, who fed Beauden Barrett to maintain the All Blacks’ hold over Scotland with a 22-17 win. 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. WARREN GATLAND denied Wales had tried to manipulate the laws in a dour win over Georgia.

Substitute prop Tomas Francis was sin-binned a minute into stoppage time, with starting props Nicky Smith and Leon Brown having gone off.

After a lengthy delay referee Mathieu Raynal ruled uncontested scrums as both Smith and Brown were deemed unfit to return.

“We didn’t try to manipulate the laws,” said coach Gatland. “If Leon had have been fit, he definitely would have gone back on.”