'Massively proud' Scotland land historic win over Māori All Blacks with huge defensive effort

Tourists see big lead whittled down in Whangārei

The numbers and names on the backs of the Scotland jerseys were falling off long before the end but there was no drop off in effort from the tourists as they produced a formidable defensive effort to beat the Māori All Blacks for the first time.

This match was hard won. Scotland led 29-12 early in the second half in Whangārei but never looked entirely comfortable and their hosts worked their way back, scoring two converted tries to make it a three-point game with 14 minutes remaining.

The Scots held on, standing up to the rumbling forward incursions. With the clock in the red, one attack lasted 28 phases before they eventually went back for a Māori penalty. This was the pattern: attack, penalty, kick to the corner, lineout, repeat. But, in the 87th minute, messy ball out of the back of the maul allowed Scotland to pile through and steal it. The ball was shipped back to Rory Hutchinson who booted it dead to give Scotland a 29-26 victory.

Scotland's Stafford McDowall, top, celebrates with Rory Hutchinson and Arron Reed after the win over the Maori All Blacks. | SNS Group / SRU

It may have been a non-cap match but you wouldn’t have known it from watching the action unfold and Stafford McDowall, the Scotland captain, was rightly proud.

“I think that was just two teams chucking it all at each other for 80 minutes, as you could see at the end from all the bodies,” said the centre. “I’m massively proud of the shift from the boys to dig in against a real good team.

“We talked at half-time, we’d put ourselves in a good position to lead but we knew the Māori were going to come back and chuck everything at us and they did that and we probably lost control for 15 to 20 minutes. In the past we might have lost that game but the boys really dug in.

Tribute to Mighty Mouse

“We wanted to get this tour off to a good start and we're really proud of the effort of the boys and it was a privilege to play here against this team in front of a packed crowd.”

Scotland have famously never beaten the All Blacks but they’ve never beaten the Māori All Blacks either and this was a notable win against opponents with a fierce sense of identity. The pre-match Haka was suitably menacing and left no-one in doubt as to what was at stake at Semenoff Stadium.

Scotland had selected an experimental side and there were first appearances from Fin Richardson, the Glasgow tighthead who looked solid in the scrum, and Alexander Masibaka and Fergus Burke, who both came off the bench. There were also returns from long-term injuries for Andy Onyeama-Christie and Ollie Smith and they played a big part in the win. Onyeama-Christie carried hard while Smith was one of Scotland’s most potent threats, creating tries for Harry Paterson and Arron Reed with some smart kicking.

George Horne was also excellent, scoring a try in each half and combining well with Adam Hastings. Scotland seemed to lose some control when the half-back pair went off.

Tributes were paid pre-match to both Ian McLauchlan, the former Scotland captain who died last month, and Luke Crawford, the late Māori All Blacks kaumātua, or elder. McDowall laid down a jersey bearing McLauchlan’s number and also gifted a claymore to their hosts.

Harry Paterson scores Scotland's first try against the Maori All Blacks in Whangarei. | SNS Group / SRU

It was Scotland who had the cutting edge in the first half as their kicking game put the Māori on the backfoot. The Scots’ backline pace caused the hosts all sorts of problems. The threaded kicks in behind had the Māori All Blacks chasing back and it was the Scots who were winning the foot races. All three of their first-half tries came this way but not before the Māori got off to a flying start.

There were only 39 seconds on the clock when scrum-half Sam Nock scored the opening try after Zarn Sullivan’s chip and chase. It was a wake-up call for the tourists who quickly responded.

Scotland debutant sees yellow after a minute

Scotland forced the Māori back into their 22 and, when Smith put through a well-judged grubber, Paterson was alert to the chase. The referee thought the Edinburgh winger had grounded the ball on the line and did not initially award the try but the TMO told him to overturn his decision when replays made it clear Paterson had got there in the nick of time. Hastings’ conversion moved Scotland 7-5 ahead and the stand-off added a penalty five minutes later.

Scotland were looking good at this point as the Māori struggled under the high ball. They couldn’t deal with a Horne box kick and as the ball went loose, Rory Hutchinson hacked on. Horne’s speed did the rest, the scrum-half outpacing the home defence to score.

Hastings converted to make it 17-5 and the Scots then had to endure some sticky moments as the home side found a way back into the game. Their cause wasn’t helped by the loss of Ben Muncaster to injury and his replacement, Masibaka, was sin-binned within a minute of coming on, an ignominious start to his Scotland career.

It wasn’t entirely his fault; McDowall had been warned about his side’s persistent offending and Masibaka paid the penalty. The Māori All Blacks quickly took advantage, Isaia Walker-Leawere scoring from TK Howden’s pass. Reihana’s conversion cut Scotland’s lead to 17-12 but Reed gave them a timely fillip with a try just before half-time. Once again, Smith was the creator, spotting the gap and kicking through for Reed to score. Hastings’ conversion meant Scotland went in at half-time 24-12 ahead and they were able to extend the lead when Māori lost two players to the sin-bin early in the second half.

TK Howden was first to go, for slapping the ball out of play, and he was soon joined by Bailyn Sullivan for a deliberate knock-on. Playing against 13, Scotland needed to take advantage and they did, Horne scoring his second try after a fine move involving Hastings, Hutchinson and Reed.

Scotland's George Horne scores his second try in the win over the Maori All Blacks at the Semenoff Stadium. | SNS Group / SRU

Hastings couldn’t convert - it was the only one he missed - but the Scots now had a 17-point advantage. It didn’t last long. Kurt Ekland was on the end of a lineout drive to reduce the arrears and then Gideon Wrampling finished from Zarn Sullivan’s long pass. Both tries were converted and Scotland’s advantage was now only three points.

The Scots held on with a resolute last stand, despite a yellow card for Cam Henderson in the dying moments.

Teams and scorers

Scorers: Māori All Blacks: Tries: Nock, Walker-Leawere, Eklund, Wrampling. Cons: Reihana 2, Trask. Scotland: Tries: Paterson, Horne 2, Reed. Cons: Hastings 3. Pens: Hastings

Yellow cards: Masibaka (Sco, 32min), Howden (NZ, 43min), B Sullivan (NZ, 45min), Henderson (Sco, 80min).

Māori All Blacks: Zarn Sullivan; Cole Forbes, Bailyn Sullivan, Gideon Wrampling, Daniel Rona; Rivez Reihana, Sam Nock; Jared Proffit, Kurt Eklund (capt), Kershawl Sykes-Martin, Antonio Shalfoon, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Te Kamaka Howden, Jahrome Brown, Cullen Grace. Replacements: Jacob Devery, Pouri Rakete-Stones, Benet Kumeroa, Laghlan McWhannell, Caleb Delany, Kemara Hauiti-Parapara, Kaleb Trask, Corey Evans.

Scotland: Ollie Smith; Harry Paterson, Rory Hutchinson, Stafford McDowall (capt), Arron Reed; Adam Hastings, George Horne (vice-capt); Nathan McBeth, Patrick Harrison, Fin Richardson, Marshall Sykes, Cameron Henderson, Josh Bayliss (vice-capt), Andy Onyeama-Christie, Ben Muncaster. Replacements: George Turner, Alec Hepburn, Will Hurd, Max Williamson, Gregor Brown, Alexander Masibaka, Fergus Burke, Jamie Dobie.

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia).

Attendance: 10,150.