Scotland 6 - 32 New Zealand
Hadden frustrated by Scots performance
PA Sport
November 8, 2008
Mike Blair of Scotland tackles Liam Messam of New Zealand during the Autumn Test at Murrayfield stadium on November 8, 2008 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
All Black Liam Messam steps up to put a hit on Scotland's Mike Blair © Getty Images
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Scotland coach Frank Hadden lamented his side's inability to turn possession and territory into points after New Zealand triumphed 32-6 in today's Test at Murrayfield.

Scotland competed bravely against a second-string All Blacks side but only had two Chris Paterson penalties to show for their efforts. In contrast, New Zealand made the most of their line breaks and turnovers by scoring four tries and as a result comfortably preserved their 103-year-old unbeaten record against Scotland.

Anthony Tuitavake crossed for the first try - while Nick de Luca was in the sin bin - and further tries followed from Piri Weepu, Richard Kahui and Anthony Boric.

Hadden said: ``Everyone will be able to imagine how frustrated we are after that afternoon. We seemed to dominate the territory and possession. We really turned up to play today and we played some good stuff. We created a lot of opportunities and won the line breaks nine to six but there's no denying that the All Blacks showed their class when it came to finishing.

``However I felt we gave their defence a very stiff examination and thought their defence was absolutely outstanding and not just their front line - the second line and the scrambling too. We're disappointed with the way we fell off in the line-out latterly but we're not particularly concerned about that because we feel it's probably something which is due to the lack of time we've had together.

``What we are concerned about was the domination we had in the scrummage. We didn't manage to capitalise on that aspect for one reason or another. Everybody is aware that as soon as we got the pressure on that the scrummage was going down. It's a difficult decision for the referee to make if there's no movement one way or another but we certainly felt that when we got the hit on they were struggling to cope with that pressure.

``Nick has apologised (for the sin-binning) already. I'm not sure how aware he was of what he was doing but fair play to them for taking advantage of the extra man. Unfortunately when we had an extra man we huffed and puffed but were unable to cross the whitewash.''

Hadden was disappointed New Zealand didn't have to work harder for their tries and was also left to rue the bounce of the ball, which he felt went the way of the visitors.

He said: ``I spent a lot of time looking at where the tries came from and the only one which came from their possession was the one just after half-time. I thought by failing to score just before half-time and conceding that try just after the break it was going to be a tough afternoon.

``The game has developed in a different way and now the vast majority of tries are resulting from turnovers, loose kicks and counter-attacks rather than the multi-phase type of try which was so prevalent a few years ago. Sometimes you just need the bounce of the ball and a bit of luck. We didn't have that when Sean Lamont or Thom Evans kicked it.''

New Zealand coach Graham Henry admitted he was very pleased with how his scratch side opened up their tour of Britain and Ireland.

Only three players who played against Australia in the Bledisloe Cup last weekend started the game in Edinburgh.

Henry said: ``We're pretty happy. It was a good win to start the tour of the UK. There was some good defence at times, especially when we were under the cosh near our line. We turned over a wee bit too much ball and gave away too many penalties but I thought the Scottish boys played with a lot of adventure and took us a bit by surprise in that regard.

``They probably deserved to score a couple of tries so full marks for them. Yes, it was a bit rusty in defence and there's a bit of work to do there but it's the first time this team has played together. It's a satisfying result for us and a good way to start the tour even though there's still a lot of work to be done. We haven't chosen next week's team yet but it's fair to say there will be some changes for what will be another big test. I expect they will all be hugely-competitive games on this tour.''

The All Blacks confirmed that Isaia Toeava was replaced at half-time after suffering a 'stinger' injury to his left shoulder while replacement scrum-half Andy Ellis took a blow to his rib cartilage - in a different area to the one he picked up in the Tri-Nations - and he will be assessed on Sunday.

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