Scotland hold on to beat Maori All Blacks in tour opener
Scotland held off a Maori All Blacks fightback at the death to hang on to a slender lead and win a nail-biting first game of their summer tour to New Zealand.Adam Hastings' first-half penalty proved to be crucial, with both sides scoring four tries and three penalties in Whangarei.The Scots have not toured New Zealand in 25 years and, although this was a non-capped international, both sides played with typical Southern Hemisphere flair throughout.The hosts enjoyed more possession, made more metres and re-arranged more ribs than their visitors, but Gregor Townsend's side were a little more clinical in attack and produced a huge defensive set at the last to clinch victory.And, while the side was predominantly made up of Scotland's second-string, with stars like Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge, Darcy Graham and Tom Jordan rested for the next two games against Fiji and Samoa, they had to produce their best to see off the Maoris.
Although the next two games of Scotland's travels have taken on more importance due to world ranking points, the tourists might not face a sterner test than the one they had in northern New Zealand.The pace was set early and tries were traded quickly. Maori scrum-half Sam Nock scored in the opening minute before Harry Paterson dotted down an Ollie Smith grubber-kick that unlocked the hosts' blitz defence.George Horne scored after his box-kick caused chaos, but then Isaia Walker-Leawere hit back while the Scots were under pressure and replacement Alex Masibaka was sent to the bin.Despite going down to 14 men, it was the visitors who went in ahead at the break. Stafford McDowall's superb 50-22 kick got Scotland up the pitch and another Smith kick-through sent Arron Reed over the line.The Maoris started the second-half in harum-scarum fashion, going down to 13 men when TK Howden and Bailyn Sullivan both committed yellow-card offences, but Scotland could only score five points in that 10-minute spell.It might have been the try of the day, though. Striking from deep, Rory Hutchinson released Reed with a cat-flap offload and the speedy winger found Horne in support for the scrum-half to score his second.As soon as the Maoris were back to their full compliment, they went to wiping out the advantage the Scots had built. Captain Kurt Eklund scored from the back of a driving maul and then Gideon Wrampling went over in the corner after a superb Daniel Rona 50-22 put the hosts into a great position.It was a three-point game and Scotland had the ball in their mitts in the 79th minute as they looked to see it out. It is never so simple with this team, though.The Maoris won the turnover and launched phase after phase of attack. The Scots creaked, Cam Henderson was sent to the bin, the clock was deep in the red at the 85-minute mark.However, having held out on their own line, they capitalised on a slack pass and the back-line piled into a ruck to win the ball back and secure a famous victory on the North Island.
Line-ups
Maori All Blacks: Z Sullivan, Forbes, B Sullivan, Wrampling, Rona; Reihana, Nock; Proffit, Eklund (c), Sykes-Martin, Shalfoon, Walker-Leaware, Howden, Brown, Grace.Replacements: Devery, Rakete-Stones, Kumeroa, McWhannell, Delany, Hauiti-Parapara, Trask, Evans.Scotland: Smith, Paterson, Hutchinson, McDowall (c), Reed, Hastings, Horne; McBeth, Harrison, Richardson, Sykes, Henderson, Bayliss, Onyeama-Christie, Muncaster.Replacements: Turner, Hepburn, Hurd, Williamson, Brown, Masibaka, Burke, Dobie.Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia).
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