All Black power rolled all over Scotland on Saturday as the tourists conceded a record 11 tries as New Zealand won the first Test 69-20 at Carisbrook.
They have already been described as the Awesome All Blacks. They are far more than that, but no adjective can truly describe them. If their performance in the victory over Tonga last week saw the adulation pour in, then the mauling of Scotland left their supporters and critics speechless.
The 11 tries that they scored were phenomenal for more than one reason. Firstly it is the most tries ever conceded by Scotland -- with the Springboks having touched down 10 times against the Scots in 1997.
But most importantly for the Kiwis is the quality of the rugby they produced in scoring those tries, a quality that will cause many of their opponents this year to have nightmares.
When coach Wayne Smith appointed Todd Blackadder as captain, it was regarded as a masterstroke. The real "masterstroke" is the manner in which he has transformed their game into a means by which to destroy their opponents with exhilarating rugby.
After the games Todd Blackadder was delighted with the result: "We backed up our effort of last week and although we had several new players we gelled well. We have been putting work into our scrum and I think we scrummed well."
"We knew we would have to vary our lineouts but we worked on our options and they came off well," he added.
And it is that famous back three, Christian Cullen, Tana Umaga en Jonah Lomu, which ran like proverbial steam engines through the Scottish defenders.
Let's give the visitors credit. They continued to try their utmost throughout and were rewarded for their steadfast attitude with two fine tries in the final five minutes. And their defence was sturdy for most part, but simply not good enough to stop this black juggernaut.
Scottish skipper Andy Nichol, who proved highly effective in getting Lomu to ground at times, said: "You can't afford to give a team of the All Blacks quality turnover ball. In the first half all we had to do was keep the ball for one or two more phases and the holes might have appeared.
"But in the second half we committed second, third or fourth rate tackles. "We didn't do particularly well with our scrums and hopefully we can put this right before the second test," he said.
Former Scottish great Gavin Hastings said Scotland performed well for the first 20 or 30 minutes. "But the All Blacks kept pounding and pounding away and while Scotland scored two tries the game was well and truly over by then."
The All Blacks' approach to rugby this year can probably best be described by the start to this test. From the kick-off the ball was carried in hand for an astonishing one minute and 28 seconds even though the Scots managed to gain control at some stage. Thereafter the Kiwis for kept the ball in hand about another two minutes, before hooker Anton Oliver in the fourth minute crashed over for the first try.
Even more phenomenal is that the game had already reached the nine minute and 30 seconds mark before the All Black flyhalf, Andrew Mehrtens, kicked the ball for the first time.
The home team at first struggled to find gaps in a very brawny Scottish defence and the visitors even managed to put the All Blacks under enough pressure to force them into giving penalties away. In fact, after 25 minutes the score was only 7-6 in favour of the Men in Black. In the subsequent 15 minutes to halftime the New Zealanders of Todd Blackadder scored three tries to turn around at 26-6.
That was a mere appetiser of what was to follow.
Seven tries (no, if fact it was nine, since the Scots also dotted down twice) and 40 minutes of exhilarating rugby later and the All Blacks had sent a clear message to the rest of the world: "We are number one and we aim to prove it this year."
Those detractors who were ready to write the All Blacks off after their disastrous World Cup campaign last year, must now all eat humble pie.
Not just is this All Black pack a very mobile unit, but they do not have to take a step back in the tight facets either. Scotland's scrum was constantly under pressure.
Man of the match: Many candidates, but my vote goes to Tana Umaga. He not just scored two typical bullish tries, but his general game is making him every bit as awesome as Jonah Lomu (another contender).
Villain: In a game where the penalty count did not even reach double figures, the scrums were also minimal and 13 tries were scored ... you must be joking. Maybe the clock which signalled the end of a truly wonderful advertisement of rugby union.
Decisive moment(s): The two tries scored in the 25th and 28th minutes -- by Ron Cribb and Jonah Lomu respectively -- took the stuffing out of the brave Scots. The score went from 7-6 to 19-6 and the match ended as a contest (not that the Scots seemed to have noticed).
Scotland has a game against Hawke's Bay in Napier on Tuesday before the final test in Auckland on Saturday.
The Teams:
Scotland: 1 Tom Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Barry Stewart, 4 Richard Metcalfe, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Martin Leslie, 7 Jason White, 8 Ross Beattie, 9 Andy Nicol (c), 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Shaun Longstaff, 12 James McLaren, 13 Gregor Townsend, 14 Craig Moir, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves: Iain Fullarton, Craig Joiner, Graham Shiel, Gordon Simpson, Mattie Stewart
Unused: Graeme Beveridge, Steve Scott
New Zealand: 1 Greg Somerville, 2 Anton Oliver, 3 Carl Hoeft, 4 Todd Blackadder (c), 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Taine Randell, 7 Scott Robertson, 8 Ron Cribb, 9 Byron Kelleher, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Jonah Lomu, 12 Pita Alatini, 13 Alama Ieremia, 14 Tana Umaga, 15 Christian Cullen
Reserves: Troy Flavell, Leon MacDonald, Craig Dowd, Mark Hammett, Josh Kronfeld
Unused: Tony Brown, Justin Marshall
Attendance: 26128
Referee: Young s.
Points Scorers:
Scotland
Tries: Metcalfe R. 1, Simpson G.L. 1
Conv: Hodge D.W. 2
Pen K.: Hodge D.W. 2
New Zealand
Tries: Cribb R.Te H. 1, Flavell T.V. 1, Alatini P.P.F. 1, Cullen C.M. 1, Lomu J.T. 3, Oliver A.D. 2, Umaga T.J.F. 2
Conv: Ieremia A.I. 1, Mehrtens A.P. 7
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