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Gregor Townsend a tad surprised Scotland beat Maori All Blacks
By PA
Gregor Townsend was pleased to see Scotland’s summer tour “start on a positive” after his side held on to claim a 29-26 win against Maori All Blacks in New Zealand.
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Having got off to a shaky start when Sam Nock crossed for the hosts, Scotland were able to clinch victory in the non-cap international with tries from Harry Paterson, Arron Reed and two either side of the break from George Horne.
A late scare saw the Maori reduce Scotland’s lead to three points with 10 minutes to play, but head coach Townsend was pleased to see his less experienced side prevail in Whangarei.
He said: “The Maori are a quality side and I suppose we decided to put a team out tonight that wasn’t as experienced knowing that it’ll be a great development and learning experience for them.
“But we also wanted to win this game and we’re so pleased that we did win the game and how we set that win up in the first half – how clinical we were. And then the pressure around set-piece and our defensive effort at the end saw us through. So, we’re really pleased that the tour starts on a positive.
“The players who haven’t played that much for Scotland and players that were coming back from injury were able to be part of a winning side tonight.”
Scotland led 24-12 at the break and Horne took advantage to bag his second try of the game in the 53rd minute when the hosts had two players shown yellow cards in quick succession.
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However, the Maori suddenly closed the gap with converted tries from Kurt Eklund and Gideon Wrampling and Townsend hailed his side’s ability to see the game out.
“The good thing is we found a way to win. I think it was probably beyond expectations knowing what the Maori did last week in Japan and how strong they’ve been against touring teams that we were so far ahead,” Townsend added.
“And we knew that they would come back and they got an opportunity and went through a number of phases, got back into the game and it looked like they had the momentum at the end.
“We needed a momentum shifting moment and Jamie Dobie and Fergus Burke, after real pressure in the line-out, got through and just the reaction of the team to get that ball back.
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“We’re delighted that in a sport that could easily have ended up with them winning with the pressure they had on us in the 22, and it would have been a really disappointing and devastating to lose at the end having led for so long, so we’re so glad we saw it through.”
Scotland’s tour continues with a clash against Fiji on July 12 before concluding with a game against Samoa the following week.
Townsend confirmed that Ben Muncaster will be monitored ahead of the Fiji meeting after picking up a dead leg, while Gregor Brown will enter concussion protocol.