Edinburgh, Sept.24: On Sunday the Murrayfield stadium witnessed the third round pool match of Rugby World cup 2007 between Scotland and New Zealand. The All Black team thrashed the home team by scoring 40-0, with this victory the New Zealand team booked their berth in the World Cup quarter finals.
Some of the key players of the Scotland team were rested for the fourth round pool match against Italy, which is scheduled to be conducted on next weekend. The new caps included in the team failed to impress with their performance. This is the first time the New Zealand team keeping the opponent scoreless in a world cup.
The Scotland coach, Frank Hadden and the team members were not happy with the outcome of the game. The home team fails to make use of the territory advantage and the local ground support. The previous victory against Romania has raised the team spirit and the two consecutive win in the first two pool matches had worked as a morale booster of the team. But this crumbling victory has disappointed the fans to a greater extend.
The opposition team scored six tries, two by winger Doug Howlett and the Scots were blanked for the first time since March 2004, when France won 31-0 at Murrayfield. The All Blacks made too many passes forward and started to play an attacking game right from the beginning; the attempts made by the Scottish team to restrict the attack went in ruin. The New Zealand team captain Richie McCaw, Byron Kelleher, Ali Williams and Dan Carter scored the other tries, and Carter nailed only four of eight goal kicks, although the misses were from the touchline, one finds the post.
Right from the kick-off the Scotland team find difficult to break the defence wall of the opposition team. Scotland team has to stick to an effective strategy so as to regain its form in the next match against Italy.