Well done Scotland on running us close. Yes the All Blacks didn't play as cohesively as we would have liked, but credit is due to the Scots putting on some pressure.
I do feel the score could have been more comfortable if we didn't give an intercept away (no kidding) and DC's goal kicking was a bit more accurate in the early going. As for the result, I kinda predicted last night that they would give us a scare until the replacements came on. Looking at the bigger picture, it was always going to be messy. You've got a bunch of guys there who have never played together before, and the hit out will do them good. I think a few questions were answered. Romano looks like he should stay in the frame permanently, Parsons had a blinder for the time he was on and has quite possibly solidified himself as the 3rd choice hooker now (not just by default, but even if Harris was fit), yes Carter takes a long time these days to get back into his rhythm. The most disappointing and frustrating thing for me was TJ Perenara. The ball, even when cleanly presented, was far too slow. Way, way too slow. Everyone is entitled to a bad game, but yeah, that was poor.
The score is what it is. Both teams missed a lot of opportunities. For the most part, Scotland. Our problem was the recycle. Theirs was first-up tackles and knock ons.
I thought Parsons was poor at best. The lineout was a disaster when he was on the field, he offered little with ball in hand, and he and made a couple of errors too. He did force one turnover at the breakdown, but apart from that I thought he had a match to forget. At least he can tell his grandkids that he played one match for the AB's....
I agree regarding Perenara. I thought he had been showing some good signs in recent weeks, but his distribution was poor today. His service from his forward pack was far from ideal though....
How do you evaluate Scotland's performance? Can Scotland beat RSA to win the pool in the World Cup?
Poor-average.
No.
Overall I did not really enjoy that match. I didn't think either side played well. There were far too many unforced errors, and a lot of 'dumb' rugby. Scotland seemed to feel sorry for the AB's at one stage and were attempting to run everything out of their 22. While I admire their courage, a better side than the AB's were last night would have severely punished them for this. They didn't appear to have any real effective exit strategy at all - Laidlaw's box-kicking lacked any distance (and went well into touch).
Scotland's defense was very good, and they did have some good moments with ball in hand too. I feel that they too are a much better side than they showed this match.
Onto the AB's:
- The tight-five was poor overall. Apart from the first scrum the AB's had clear advantage at scrum-time though, which is something at least. The lineout was a disaster in the 1st half, but did improve in the 2nd once Coles came on. Moody and Faumuina weren't as prominent as they have been in recent weeks, and as I mentioned before I thought Parsons was poor. Thrush was one of the few AB's who had a strong match in my opinion. He had an impressive work-rate, disrupted a couple of Scotland's mauls, and was rewarded with a try. Bird had a few runs, but made too many handling errors.
- The loose-forwards were better, but not as dominant as they were last weekend. McCaw did some good work at the breakdown, but made a few errors in general play. Cane added his trademark physicality but was pretty quiet overall, while it was disappointing to see Vito go off injured after his outstanding individual try.
- As mentioned above I was disappointed by Perenara. Carter looked like someone who has played only a couple of games of rugby in the last year. Do people still think he should have started against England last weekend? He just looked completely out of touch - it was no coincidence that the backline functioned much better when Slade shifted to 10 as his handling and passing was just so much sharper. I'm certainly not saying Carter is past it or anything, I just think he needs to play a lot more rugby (a big ask for him given his injury concerns) before he is ready to start in the AB's 10 jersey...
- Was Crotty playing? He was uncharacteristically quiet. Barring one good run Fekitoa was well contained too.
- The outside backs all had limited space, but all played pretty solidly. Piutau looked physical, but wasn't quite at his best, Slade actually looked quite comfortable on the wing, while Ben Smith threatened but was well contained at fullback. Savea made a big impact when he came on with his power - it was great to see someone in the backline running straight and hard!
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