Late try spree spoils Smith's day

SCOTLAND captain Tom Smith was left to rue a costly last 10 minutes which saw his side concede three late tries. "All over the pitch, you have to be at the top of your game to play the All Blacks. They ask questions all over the pitch," said Smith, after his side had stopped the New Zealanders from crossing their try line for more than 70 minutes.

The overall performance from Scotland was one that was acknowledged on all sides. Coach Ian McGeechan expressed his delight at the outstanding defensive display of his players, while both the All Blacks coach John Mitchell and captain Anton Oliver paid tribute to the opposition.

"You have to give credit to the Scots," said Oliver. "We made some errors of our own, but they forced some out of us. Defensively they were outstanding.

"Everywhere we tried to attack we were nullified. We got splintered off into individuals. We needed to get deep and chose a spot in the defence to attack, which is what we did in the end."

Mitchell said: "The Scots are renowned for being accurate and physical in the area of the breakdown and we didn't deal with it at all well."

But Mitchell added his own side showed some good defensive characteristics: "We had a lot of sting in that areas. It was something we worked in training and we achieved our objective."

Both Mitchell and McGeechan noted that the kicking of Andrew Mehrtens was important in the early stages.

"Andrew was needed in that area. He is world class,"said Mitchell, while McGeechan added that Scotland's kicking was not nearly effective enough. "We didn't keep the scoreboard ticking over, which was crucial," he said.

"Once they got two or three penalties in the second half that helped them. We failed to put points on at key points in the game, but Andrew Mehrtens did that for them. Had two of Paterson's kicks gone over it would have put pressure on them.

"I don't think the score should have been as big as that. Two tries in the last three minutes put a gloss on it, but that is what they do. A game lasts for 80 minutes."

Wing Chris Paterson admitted that he was disappointed with his kicking. "I lifted my head twice," he said. "But I can't dwell on it, I have to look forward.

"Three late tries flattered New Zealand a little bit but it's a sign of a quality team that they opened that gap when they did."

Another who bemoaned the All Blacks' late try spree was Stuart Grimes: "When we went in 9-6 down at half time we thought that the game was there for the taking. It was only when we let in the late tries that we really knew that we were out of it."

Yet he added defiantly: "We were not outmuscled up front and we gave them a real go which was very pleasing from the pack's point of view, but we didn't dominate enough to win the game with the forward effort alone. It was a big improvement on our performance against Argentina but in the end it just wasn't enough.

"We simply didn't pressurise them for long enough. A couple of slack tackles and they just opened us up which is really disappointing because we were competing right to the end."

One area that everyone agreed was good for Scotland was the lineout. "Murray is world class in terms of pinching the ball," admitted Oliver. "It wasn't until the second half when we went back to the simple things that we got good clean ball in that area."

McGeechan added: "It is a source of possession and we work a lot on it. We wanted to deny them as much ball as possible, but unfortunately we made too many errors in other areas that gave it back to them, but we gave them some problems, which I quite enjoyed."

On the subject of Brendan Laney, John Mitchell refused to be drawn on the observation that the former Otago player outshone Leon McDonald, his opposite number. "Clearly it did not go too well for Macca, but it would be wrong to make compare him to Laney."

McGeechan was more forthcoming in praising his new asset. "He was outstanding in his reading of the game and his tactical assessment from the back. What you was seeing was a very clever player working at test match level."

Laney himself was delighted to have finally arrived on the test match scene. "It was brilliant to play for Scotland and it was an amazing occasion. If I get another chance to do that I will be a very happy man.

"I have always thought that I was good enough to play test match rugby."

Copyright 2001
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