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Deflated Gregor Townsend admitted Scotland fell below his expectations as they slumped to a demoralising 43-21 Nations Championship defeat at home to emotionally-charged New Zealand.
The Scots sensed a chance to notch their first ever win over the All Blacks as, despite not being at their best, they trailed by just three points, 24-21, at the end of an exhilarating, seven-try first half.
Wallace Sititi, Ethan de Groot, Peter Lakai and Beuden Barrett all scored before the break for the visitors, who lost both Lakai and Sititi to first-half yellow cards, while Ewan Ashman became the first Scotland player to notch a hat-trick in this fixture.
But the hosts were completely shut out after the break as Josh Moorby and Barrett scored either side of a 51st-minute yellow card for Sione Tuipulotu before Asafo Aumua sealed a comfortable victory for Dave Rennie’s on-song side at the end of a week in which they have been mourning the death of their popular head of security, Logan Cadwallader.
“I’m clearly disappointed that we didn’t put one of our best performances out there,” said head coach Townsend after Scotland’s winless streak against the All Blacks stretched to 34 games over more than 120 years.
“You obviously prepare to try and win games, but it’s more about can we deliver a performance we can be proud of, and it wasn’t there today, so that’s frustrating.
“I think what the team has done in previous games, whether it’s in Pretoria or Cordoba or here in the Six Nations, there have been much better performances than we delivered today, so that’s a real disappointment.
“A much better performance might not have led to a victory, but it’s more the disappointment that we didn’t deliver what we set out to do.”
Although Scotland were well in the game in the first half, Townsend felt they “enabled New Zealand to get into our 22 by not having to do that much”.
He added: “From the other side, I felt the effort that was going into our attack, the breakdown was excellent in the first half.
“It was clearly putting New Zealand under pressure with two yellow cards and three tries and a couple of times held up over the line.
“The first 10 minutes of the second half is probably where the momentum changed back.
“We had a lineout in their 22, we didn’t execute, we were inaccurate and then we were back in our 22.
“I didn’t think it was the right call against Sione being offside (for his yellow card) and then we didn’t really get in the flow after that.”
New Zealand head coach Rennie praised his players for digging deep after Cadwallader died in Edinburgh last weekend.
“I’m a proud because it was an important day for us,” he said.
“It’s been a tough week with a massive emotional toll on the group. You would have seen some players visibly upset on the final whistle so I’m proud of them to get through that.”
