Scotland 3-49 New Zealand, Murrayfield, November 13
Sonny Bill: Nonu and Smith still the best
ESPNscrum Staff
November 14, 2010

All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams has remained modest in the wake of his Man of the Match display in a comfortable 49-3 win over Scotland on Saturday - insisting that he has some way to go before he can consider himself to be at the same level as rivals Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith.

The former league international was in devastating form at Murrayfield as Scotland failed to deal with his offloading game but he is all too aware that the benched Nonu will be eyeing a return to action against Ireland in Dublin next weekend.

"Ma'a and Conrad to me are the best midfield combination in the world," Williams said. "As long as I can keep my foot in there and hopefully keep staying in that 22 and get a bit of game time here and there, I know I'll improve.

"It was a step forward - now I know I can mix it at this level - but in saying that there are still big games ahead and there's a long way to go."

Williams also refused to take all the credit for his superb distribution - maintaining that he lives and dies on the support play provided by his team-mates.

"I just hope they catch it, because if they don't catch it...You're only as good as your support play and you probably can't get much better than the boys that I played alongside in the last couple of weeks," he said. "It does make it a lot easier.

"There's still things I need to address and work on, but I've always said I'm a work in progress. I've got to keep on working and continue to improve. It was a good game because the team played terrifically. As a whole our forwards led the way and made it a lot easier for us to get that quick ball and get a roll on."

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