All Blacks player ratings vs Scotland | Autumn Nations Series
The All Blacks travelled to Edinburgh looking to bank their sixth win on the trot whilst also avoiding making unwanted history against a feisty Scottish side that has scored more than a few upsets in recent years.
While New Zealand started strongly, scoring two tries in the opening 10 minutes, the home side valiantly fought back and managed to fight their way to a nine-point lead heading into the final quarter.
The All Blacks rallied, however, grabbing the last two tries of the game to triumph 31-23, fortifying their history of success over Scotland.
How did the players rate in the win?
1. Ethan de Groot – 5/10
Showed some ferocity at the breakdown and had no issues at the set-piece. Defence was shakey, however, missing almost as many tackles as he made. Off in 52nd minute.
2. Samisoni Taukei’aho – 8
Mammoth with ball in hand, to the point where he almost ran away from his supporting players thanks to his impressive leg drive. Grabbed the first try of the game from a five-metre lineout. Missed his target at lineout time just once and hit double figures on defence. Off in 57th minute.
3. Nepo Laulala – 6
One of his busiest games on the carry, trailing behind just his front-row teammate Taukei’aho. Did his part at the set-piece and cleared out some big bodies at the breakdown. Off in 52nd minute.
4. Sam Whitelock – 6
Made a couple of handy carries and was industrious on defence. Didn’t have too much luck unlocking Scotland’s lineout. Penalised for collapsing the maul.
5. Scott Barrett – 7
Got involved in plenty of grunt work and hit plenty of breakdowns, particularly in the second half when NZ had all 15 men on the field. Threw himself over the goal line for New Zealand’s third try of the match. Pinged once for jumping across the lineout. Off in 71st minute.
6. Akira Ioane – 6
Got scorched by Stuart Hogg on the outside but managed to ankle-tap the Scottish fullback to shut down the attack. Helped stymy a bit of Scotland’s momentum at the beginning of the second quarter with a good breakdown steal. Trucked the ball up when needed but was outplayed by his opposite. Off in 60th minute.
7. Dalton Papali’i – 7
Put an end to Scotland’s first attacking foray with some good work at the breakdown. Caught out on defence in the lead-up to Scotland’s first try of the match thanks to a snappy set-play. Was forced into making a bucketload of tackles, which inhibited his ability to cause too much havoc at the breakdown until the final quarter where he stood up in a big way.
8. Ardie Savea – 8
As always, carried well and was damaging at the breakdown. Grabbed an early turnover for NZ and then won a penalty at the end of the first half that prevented an almost certain Scotland try. Copped one penalty for an accidental high tackle then ‘earned’ one right back.
9. Finlay Christie – 5
Gave reasonable delivery to his teammates but certainly didn’t offer the razor-sharp accuracy of Aaron Smith. Knocked the ball on at the base of the ruck when the All Blacks were building nicely. Off in 57th minute.
10. Beauden Barrett – 4
One of his least influential games in the No 10 jersey, with the All Blacks starved of quick, clean ball. A nice grubber through was the initial spark for the All Blacks’ second try but his later attempts at short kicks didn’t reap rewards.
11. Caleb Clarke – 4
A second relatively quiet game in a row. Took one high ball superbly in traffic. Dropped the ball cold in the second half. Caught out on defence on a few occasions – including when Darcy Graham almost scored a spectacularly acrobatic try.
12. David Havili – 4
Had plenty of runners crashing into him in the midfield but generally held strong. His first cross-field kick of the game didn’t exactly hit the mark, but Telea turned the wonky old punt into an attacking opportunity. Threw an intercept pass, which Darcy Graham converted into a try. Off in 54th minute.
13. Anton Lienert-Brown – 5
Not the return to the starting midfield he would have been looking for. Pounced on Barrett’s grubber to set up Clarke on a good charge down the field. Was yellow-carded soon after when he ‘prevented’ Stuart Hogg from scoring. Pinged for getting offside, with Finn Russell taking the easy 3. Shut down a likely try with a good goal-line steal and looked better later in the piece when he was tucked with trucking the ball forward.
14. Mark Telea – 8
Looked good with his first touch in a black jersey, skipping around Scotland’s Stuart Hogg. Was in a great position to take a kick-pass from his fullback to bag a try with his second touch of the ball. Pinged once for not rolling away from the tackle and missed one tackle on Hogg which could have been dicey, and was guilty of being shepherded into touch once or twice – a cardinal sin for a winger.
15. Jordie Barrett – 6
Barely got his hands on the ball in the first half and wasn’t able to bring his carrying game to the fore. A beautiful cross-field kick created Telea’s try. Was left flat-footed by Graham en route to Scotland’s second score. Highlight might have been him throwing off two or three Scotland defenders in the dying moments of the match. Nailed his kicks on goal.
RESERVES:
16. Codie Taylor – 7
On in 57th minute. An excellent cameo off the bench. Put his head down and barrelled into the Scottish defence. Wrapped his arms around the ball to force a turnover off a Scotland lineout.
17. George Bower – 7
Off in 52nd minute. Pinged in front of the posts for an early shove at scrum time, with Scotland banking the penalty. Grabbed a penalty back later in the half. Carried well.
18. Fletcher Newell – 5
Off in 52nd minute. Hummed about the park without making any sizeable contributions.
19. Tupou Vaa’i – N/A
On in 71st minute. Showed soft hands in his limited time on the field.
20. Shannon Frizell – 7
On in 60th minute. Showed a bit of power and thrust down the flanks.
21. TJ Perenara – 8
On in 57th minute. Made a couple of massive plays in the final 10 minutes.
22. Stephen Perofeta – N/A
On in 80th minute.
23. Rieko Ioane – 8
On in 54th minute. Added some much-needed midfield power off the pine. Drew in two defenders then offloaded out to Telea for the All Blacks’ decisive try.
Comments on RugbyPass
More useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
22 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
1 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
22 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a card waiting to happen, Cane has been out with injury as well as playing in Japan, I think they’ll go with in-Japan-but-still-the-man Savea. Samisoni Taukeaho will be Captain after 2027, so he might get some Captain minutes against an Italy or Japan.
13 Go to commentsDissapointed that after 7 years Crusaders could not have found a coach that believed their system and improved on it. What was he expecting?
6 Go to comments