New Zealand and Scotland faced off in Christchurch as the Rugby League World Cup heads to the South Island, and it was as one sided as a game could be. We covered the game with the Who, What, Where, When and How of the big game in Pool B.
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup is a big deal for us, being huge rugby league fans and love a minnow or two, and we’ll be covering all of the games throughout.
So visit our 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE
Now onto the New Zealand and Scotland game.
NEW ZEALAND v SCOTLAND MATCH REVIEW
RESULT – Who Won?
NEW ZEALAND 72
Tries: K. Bromwich (9), J. Nightingale (13), J. Tapine (15), J. Nightingale (23), T. Martin (32), P. Hiku (39), R. Packer (43), T. Martin (52), D. Whare (55), P. Hiku (59), S. Johnson (62), P. Hiku (69), T. Martin (76), E. Taylor (78)
Goals: S. Johnson 9 Conv
SCOTLAND 6
Tries: O. Thomas (72)
Goals: D. Addy 1 Conv
How Did They Win?
By scoring 14 tries to one obviously.
New Zealand were just far too good for Scotland and made up for the last start draw by smashing Scotland 74-6.
The tries came thick and fast, and too frequent to list one by one, but it is worth pointing out that Scotland were competitive for the first part of the game, and were pressuring the Kiwi defence in the first minutes of the game. They couldn’t convery ball and territory into points, and by the 9th minute were punished by conceding a soft try to Kenny Bromwich.
That opened up the floodgates to a variety of tries usually involving Te Maire Martin, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Shaun Johnson.
What did we learn?
For all the talk of Tonga causing a surprise, New Zealand still lead the Pool B standings, and the thrashing of Scotland sent a message as Tonga only defeated them by 46 points in their clash in week 1 of the Rugby League World Cup.
Te Maire Martin impressed, after replacing Kodi Nikorima, and you feel it may be the right combination for the Tonga game.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is getting back to his best. Was one of the best fullbacks in the game prior to his move to the Warriors, he seemed to have caught their mediocrity disease in the NRL. He has shone at this World Cup and is a key player for them.
What was the Moment of the Match?
The biggest moment of the New Zealand v Scotland match was actually after the match as three Scottish players were sensationally thrown out of the World Cup for allegedly being too drunk to get on a flight.
The offenders were Danny Brough – Scotland’s most experienced player, Sam Brooks and funnily enough Johnny Walker. Hard to believe someone called Johnny Walker would be too drunk to get on a plane.
THE DOWLING-TAMATI #RLWC2017 PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT
We’ve decided that a tournament as big as the 2017 Rugby League World Cup needs a Player of the tournament, and who better than International relations specialists Kevin Tamati and Greg Dowling to name our award.
We award points on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale every match, and the results for this game is below. For the running total from all of the games visit our 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE
5 POINTS – ROGER TUIVASA-SHECK – imperious at fullback, ran for 221 metres and had 5 try assists.
4 POINTS – TE MAIRE MARTIN – really did the job at five eighth and was dangerous throughout. Grabbed himself three tries with 2 assists.
3 POINTS – PETER HIKU – scored three tries and ran powerfully for big metres
2 POINTS – MARTIN TAUPAU – the more you see of Taupau, the more you like. Another big performance
1 POINT – RUSSELL PACKER – Did some big work off the bench and looked a real handful.
MATCH PREVIEW
Who: NEW ZEALAND v SCOTLAND
Where and When: LIVE Saturday 4th November
When is it on TV? Channel 7Mate @ 2pm
What’s the Story?
NZ did the job against the Samoans in week 1 of the Rugby League World Cup, eventually overcoming Samoa who put up a good fight and were right in the game up until the Kiwis went on a try scoring spree 10 mnutes after half time.
Shaun Johnson was the architect of most of the winning attack, and good signs for New Zealand and their NRL counterparts with his return from injury.
New Zealand need a good result and match as a warm up to the big game gainst Tonga next weekend which will determine the winner of Pool B.
They face Scotland, a team who sensationaly drew with the Kiwis in the Four Nations last yer in England, and they were lucky to get that result. That day they had a little more NRL experience, and New Zealand are looking a llot better this year, so it should be a Kiwi victory
Scotland were not too bad against Tonga, but just lacked the extra class to get over the big units from Tonga. The lost the second half only, which after the first half was a very good effort.
Who Will Win and Why?
New Zealand should have way too much everything for Scotland, and will likely win by plenty. But many would have said that before the previous encounter that ended in a draw in England too.
The big men will likely do all the damage, like the impressive Martin Taupau, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, and promising Kiwi youngsters Joseph Tapine and Addin Fonua-Blake.
But the class of Shaun Johnson will lead the Kiwis to victory, a win they need as they head into the likely pool topping showdown against Tonga next weekend.
New Zealand by 36
Who to watch for?
Te Maire Martin.
Has been drafted in at five eighth and gets his chance to shine alongside Shaun Johnson. He did some good things for the Cowboys since his mid season switch, but the question is whether he is up to the very big games. He gets his chance to start answering that on Saturday.
His 20 odd NRL games and 2 for NZ will be up against Scotland experience Danny Brough with his 20 games for Scotland and nearly 400 games in the English Rugby League.
TEAMS
Who’s in the Teams?
NEW ZEALAND
1 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 2 Jason Nightingale, 3 Dean Whare, 4 Brad Takairangi, 5 Peta Hiku, 6 Te Maire Martin, 7 Shaun Johnson, 8 Martin Taupau, 9 Elijah Taylor, 10 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 11 Kenny Bromwich, 12 Joseph Tapine, 13 Adam Blair, 14 Nelson Asofa-Solomona, 15 Russell Packer, 16 Addin Fonua-Blake, 17 Danny Levi, 18 Thomas Leuluai, 19 Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, 20 Simon Mannering, 21 Jordan Rapana
SCOTLAND
1 Alex Walker 2 Lewis Tierney 3 Ben Hellewell 4 Lachlan Stein 5 Matthew Russell 6 Danny Brough (C) 7 Oscar Thomas 8 Luke Douglas 9 Danny Addy 10 Ben Kavanagh 11 Jarred Anderson 12 Dale Ferguson 13 James Bell 14 Kane Bentley 15 Sam Brooks 16 Brandan Wilkinson 17 Johnny Walker 18 Andrew Bentley 19 Callum Phillips 20 Shane Toal 21 Frankie Mariano
MATCH REVIEW
Coming soon.
THE DOWLING-TAMATI #RLWC2017 PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT
We’ve decided that a tournament as big as the 2017 Rugby League World Cup needs a Player of the tournament, and who better than International relations specialists Kevin Tamati and Greg Dowling to name our award.
We award points on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale every match, and the results for this game is below. For the running total from all of the games visit our 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE
Points coming after the match.
