Any suggestion that Scotland were closing the gap on the All Blacks was emphatically dismissed as their wait for a first victory in this fixture stretched to 121 years.
Four successive narrow defeats against New Zealand had encouraged Gregor Townsend’s team to believe they could finally end their winless run at the 34th attempt in the opening match of the Nations Championship autumn series.
A chaotic first half, featuring an Ewan Ashman hat-trick, ended with Scotland only three points behind. New Zealand’s indiscipline also offered hope after the visitors were briefly reduced to 13 men.
Scotland needed to sustain that intensity after the interval if they were to claim the victory that has eluded them for so long. Instead, they collapsed, failing to score in the entire second half, which also saw captain Sione Tuipulotu sent to the sin-bin.
New Zealand confirmed their superiority with three further tries, taking their tally to seven. Long before the final whistle, Scotland’s hopes of a comeback had all but disappeared.
The hosts could not generate any attacking momentum and must now wait until next year’s meeting in Dunedin for another opportunity to end this long-running hoodoo.
The match was played at a furious pace from start to finish, with the teams combining for seven tries in a first half that raced by.
Both sides were determined to attack, and only desperate defence and occasional mistakes in possession prevented an even higher-scoring contest.
When the players left the field at half-time, Ashman had become the first Scotland player to score a hat-trick against New Zealand. The All Blacks held a three-point advantage and still had a player in the sin-bin.
Scotland had been punished for slow starts in their previous two Tests against New Zealand and had promised not to make the same mistake again. They were behind almost immediately.
Jamie Dobie was penalised for offside and New Zealand kicked to the corner. Instead of relying on a driving maul, Wallace Sititi — the powerful No. 8 who spent part of his childhood in Galashiels — broke away and cruised almost casually over the line.
Scotland once again faced an uphill battle. To their credit, they responded quickly rather than allowing the early setback to affect them. Kyle Rowe, selected ahead of Blair Kinghorn, delivered an outstanding 50-22 kick to put Scotland in attacking territory. The line-out maul initially appeared to stall, but the backs joined in and provided enough momentum for Ashman to score.
That began a relentlessly unpredictable opening half, with momentum repeatedly swinging from one team to the other. New Zealand threatened next, but Jamie Dobie produced a sharp defensive intervention to stop Will Jordan in the right corner. The All Blacks switched play to the opposite flank, where Jack Dempsey and then Ben White again denied Jordan.
Scotland were beginning to buckle, however, and New Zealand eventually found a second try. Beauden Barrett chased his own kick down the left and forced a turnover penalty. Cam Roigard reacted fastest, taking a quick tap that created the opening for Ethan de Groot to power over.
New Zealand remained in control and extended their lead just four minutes later. Dempsey was penalised for a high tackle, and Scotland had no answer to the resulting maul as Codie Taylor reached the line.
Scotland lock Scott Cummings climbs highest to secure possession at the line-out
Only McKenzie’s inaccurate goal-kicking was keeping Scotland within reach, with some loose New Zealand defence also offering assistance. Zander Fagerson carried strongly to move the Scots into range, but Finn Russell’s pass was too high for Dobie, who was quickly surrounded.
New Zealand’s penalty total was also rising, and Peter Lakai paid the price for repeated infringements when he became the first player shown a yellow card.
Scotland thought they had capitalised immediately when Huw Jones broke through, but Josh Moorby made an excellent covering tackle to prevent him from grounding the ball.
The hosts continued to show attacking ambition and were eventually rewarded. Ashman scored again, bursting over from White’s pass after powerful carries by Rowe and Rory Darge had created the opportunity.
New Zealand responded once more in this frenetic, end-to-end contest. McKenzie delivered a perfectly weighted pass for Beauden Barrett, who raced onto it to score the All Blacks’ fourth try.
Asafo Aumua completes New Zealand’s seventh try against Scotland
Scotland replaced Pierre Schoeman with Rory Sutherland and increased the pressure. Sititi briefly joined Lakai in the sin-bin after going off his feet, but Scotland could not take advantage straight away, with Jones again stopped short of the line.
A third Scotland try did arrive before the interval, and once again Ashman was the scorer, finishing from the maul.
Only three points separated the teams at half-time, leaving Scotland within striking distance. They needed another strong performance after the restart if they were to turn the contest in their favour.
Instead, New Zealand raised the tempo and scored twice more, effectively taking the match beyond Scotland’s reach with 30 minutes still remaining.
Scotland successfully challenged an incorrect line-out decision and won the appeal, only for Ashman to spoil the advantage by missing the subsequent throw and handing momentum back to New Zealand.
Beauden Barrett grounds the ball for New Zealand’s fourth try
After two scrum penalties, the ball moved swiftly from Jordie Barrett to Moorby, who crossed the line without being challenged.
It was beginning to feel like another frustrating afternoon for Scotland, and that sense was reinforced when Tuipulotu was shown a yellow card for repeated team infringements.
Referee Andrew Brace drew criticism for several contentious calls, although Scotland also contributed to their own difficulties through a number of avoidable errors.
New Zealand’s sixth try underlined their dominance as Scotland began to fade. Beauden Barrett finished a sweeping passing move involving the All Blacks’ backs.
Ewan Ashman scored a hat-trick as Scotland suffered defeat against the All Blacks
Scotland appeared beaten, and Kyle Steyn’s failure to collect a looping pass from Kinghorn summed up their afternoon. Beauden Barrett had waved at the ball without knocking it on, but Steyn was unable to take advantage.
The removal of White and Russell shortly after 62 minutes provided further evidence of Scotland’s struggles, with the half-back pairing unable to influence the game against a stronger New Zealand defence.
The home crowd called for another yellow card after Jordie Barrett made contact with Kinghorn’s head, but the officials took no action.
That decision might briefly have offered Scotland hope, but New Zealand soon extinguished it with a seventh try. The visitors worked the line-out before replacement hooker Asafo Aumua crossed the line, prompting many supporters to begin heading for the exits.
