Rugby-Scotland frustrated as winless streak against All Blacks continues

Scotland had high hopes of ending their New ​Zealand hoodoo but again will have to ​reflect on another defeat after they ‌were ​within three points of their nemesis at halftime but blown away in the second half of the Nations Championship game on Saturday. Scotland came ‌close to claiming a first win over the All Blacks last year after fighting back from 17-0 down to level, only to lose out to a late try.

But Saturday’s test offered only flickers of hope ‌for Scottish supporters before yet another dispiriting defeat, extending the All Blacks’ 121-year-old unbeaten streak over ‌Scotland to 34 games. New Zealand scored 19 unanswered points in the second half to emphasis their superiority.

"I'm clearly disappointed that we didn't put one of our best performances out there," Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said. "You obviously prepare to try to win ⁠games, ​but it's more about ⁠can we deliver a performance we can be proud of, our supporters can be proud of. And it wasn't there today. ⁠So that's frustrating."

It was Scotland’s first game since their three opening matches of the inaugural Nations Championship in ​July while the All Blacks have had an extensive schedule over the past three months, including ⁠an eight-match tour of South Africa and two crunching Bledisloe Cup victories over Australia. "We were in a good place coming ⁠into ​the game with how the players had trained. But we need more time under pressure and that's what we've got today. This will be a big learning for us," Townsend said.

"We pinpointed ⁠a few things before the game that we thought if we could deliver on those, where we ⁠would give them some ⁠problems," Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu said. "And at times we did, but at times they made a mess of our breakdown, so I just didn’t think ‌we delivered to ‌our best standard."

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; ​Editing by Ed Osmond)