Thumped but not at all disgraced

[wardlaw]

First side this year to take 3 tries against the All Blacks. Still, as predicted, well hammered but (some) hope for the future of Scottish rugby. If we continue to play like that the 6 Nations could be exciting but aren't New Zealand just a joy to watch.

[albaqwerty]

New Zealand are an absolute joy to watch.
Duly thumped, but who could possibly deny them the victory?

[jno]

more than a year since anyone scored 22 against NZ. If the Scots play that well against lesser opposition in Europe, they can expect a pretty good 6N to come.

[boxtops]

Absolutely - we really enjoyed a good match.

[Slapshot]

I remember the 25 all draw in the 80s 1983 I think....that was an awesome day out. No disgrace to lose to the All Blacks, can't wait to see the rest of their results on this tour

[ChillDoubt]

Great display by Scotland and no disgrace losing by that scoreline. Gray, Denton and Visser were fantastic.

[wardlaw]

Yes remember the game well slapshot. BTW you have one FANTASTIC plastic surgeon!

[jno]

losing may not be nice but it needn't be disgraceful

[snags]

''Would it not be better trying to find out how a small nation like New zealand produce such fantastic players''

Answers here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...aland_so_good_at.html

[Duncer]

Interesting stuff snags.

[snags]

^ The comments below too, as well as the main article.

[ichkeria]

It's interesting to note that we (Ireland) have decided to emulate All Blacks' success by dressing like them. Genius :-)
As was the idea to make our game with the hapless Fijians a non-Test.

[snags]

''we (Ireland) have decided to emulate All Blacks' success by dressing like them''

Good idea. How about an Irish Haka too: or will the pigs under their arms get in the way? ;-p

[KerrAvon]

another reason they are so good is that they have the pick of the pacific islands, Samoa/Fiji/Tonga etc, so they are not really New Zealand anyway. However Although they are indeed a joy to watch they will not be happy leaking 3 tries against Scotland and will seek to plug those leaks. I doubt any of the NH teams will beat them this tour but Scotland did show that the AB defence is far from "impregnable".

[jno]

another reason they are so good is that they have the pick of the pacific islands, Samoa Fiji Tonga etc, so they are not really New Zealand anyway.

Utter nonsense, sorry. 32 players in the squad, 30 born in NZ, two born in Australia but went to NZ as children.

[snags]

''30 born in NZ''

Well yes, but how many of that 30 come from Pacific Island heritage?

[snags]

^ That doesn't quite make sense but you know what I'm getting at...

[jno]

you mean of immigrant parents? No idea. Islanders have had more or less free entry to NZ for decades, so they'll have come for their own purposes rather than because they hoped to have children yet unborn play for the All Blacks. I dimly recall being told that Sivivatu was the last All Black player to go to NZ in his teens, and that was quite a while back.

I've had a look through the list and Faumuina, Vito and Savea look as if they might respectively be Samoan, Fijian and Fijian in origin (there's no V in Maori, there is in Fijian), but that's a massively amateur guess, and even if it's right it doesn't mean the families haven't been there for generations.

So we're seriously not talking of a team of imports.

[snags]

My last post wasn't agreeing with KerrAvon's previous post that NZ have the pick from the PIs but it's interesting to note that 'what was a trickle became a flood of Polynesian players going into provincial rugby and eventually the All Blacks' and that 'at last year's World Cup, almost a third of the All Blacks' 30-man squad boasted Pacific heritage':

http://www.bangkokpos...-drive-n-z-wcup-dream

Whatever the heritage of their players, the All Blacks are a joy to watch.

[jno]

there are slightly fewer at the moment than there have been for a while, I think, but it's hard to be sure without reading their genealogies. (So Weepu's Niuean - I wondered where a name like that came from.) Plus Maori, who have been in NZ for 1000 years, are Polynesian too. I just looked up the current squad because it was to hand, but it may not be entirely representative of the last 10 years or so; players come and go.