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Grant Gilchrist admitted Scotland need to find a way to replicate their second-half display against New Zealand for a full 80 minutes in order to get to a level where they can beat one of the world’s top three sides.
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While the Scots have proven themselves capable of defeating the likes of France, England, Australia, Wales, Argentina and Italy on a regular basis under Gregor Townsend, they have been unable to knock off any of the All Blacks, South Africa or Ireland during the current head coach’s eight-and-a-half-year reign.
Saturday was arguably the closest they have been to beating one of the world’s heavyweight trio, after they stormed back from 17-0 down to level the match at 17-17 before losing 25-17 after some late heroics from Damian McDonald.
“You don’t get the opportunity to win these games, you don’t get to 17-all on 70 minutes (against the All Blacks) unless you’re a good team,” said second-rower Gilchrist.
“But that’s the next step for us. We’ve seen so much growth, the fact that we can go 17-0 down, not panic, stick to the gameplan, and go and grab the game like we did in the second half, that’s the bit that shows we’re a really good team.
“When it gets to those moments, it’s small things. It’s one lost lineout and one unbelievable piece of play from Damian McKenzie that gives them the territory. But we’ve got to look at the whole game.
“We shouldn’t have been 17-0 down. The tries they scored, the pick through the middle of the ruck was something we spoke about the whole week and the try before half-time was soft.
“But even if we had conceded the 17 points, we should have had at least 17 of our own. We had two held up over the line. Those are the moments we reflect back on. We’ve got to be better in those moments.”
Gilchrist believes his side showed their potential in a second half which they dominated for the most part.
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“When we play rugby like that, there’s no team in the world that can defend us,” he said. “But it’s about how we can make sure we take those opportunities in the first half so that’s a win rather than a plucky defeat.
“That second-half performance was exactly what we wanted to be but we need to replicate that for a full 80 minutes.”
Scotland must rouse themselves for Sunday’s visit of a burgeoning Argentina side who have climbed above them in the World Rugby rankings.
“They’re right up there, they’ve beaten the All Blacks this year, so we know the challenge is ‘can we perform like we did in that second half against the All Blacks and put away one of the top sides in the world?’” said Gilchrist.
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“We’ll be straight on with what worked for us in Saturday’s game and how we can replicate that next Sunday against Argentina and come away with a win against a top-quality side.”
