New Zealand outclass Scotland to maintain unbeaten record

EDINBURGH, Nov 7 : New Zealand kept up their unbeaten record against Scotland, blowing away their hosts in the second half as they won 43-21 in imperious style in their Nations Championship at Murrayfield on Saturday.

There were 10 tries as both sides showed elements of their running game but errors and yellow cards also impacted on the outcome, with Scotland looking rusty and the All Blacks finishing strongly.

Veteran back Beauden Barrett scored two tries to bring his test tally to 50 with Wallace Sititi, Ethan de Groot, Peter Lakai, Josh Moorby and Asafo Aumua also crossing the line for the Kiwis and Damian McKenzie kicking four conversions

Hooker Ewan Ashman notched a hat-trick of tries for Scotland in the first half, all converted by Finn Russell.

The win keeps New Zealand alongside South Africa, who thumped Italy earlier on Saturday, on 20 points at the top of the Southern Hemisphere standings but defeat for Scotland comes a heavy blow to their hopes of topping the Northern Hemisphere section.

"We played our rugby in the first half but we probably left points out there. We were nowhere near accurate enough second-half, and we couldn't stick with them, it's really disappointing," said Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu.

The first of seven first-half tries came in the fourth minute as All Blacks’ attacking intent was signalled straight away with a penalty opportunity spurned and a clever decoy from the resultant lineout allowing Sititi to burst over.

IMMEDIATE RESPONSE

But there was an immediate response from the hosts after Kyle Rowe’s long kick earned them a 50-22 and, from the resultant lineout, Ashman scored.

Two tries in four minutes put the All Blacks 10 points clear in the 20th minute with De Groot bursting over after