Maoris steal show

Scotland's Gordon Bulloch is tackled

New Zealand Maoris 18-15 Scotland

A late penalty helped the New Zealand Maori side to an 18-15 win over Scotland in New Plymouth.

The Maoris had not lost since 1994 and notched up their 24th consecutive victory against Scotland.

The tourists put in a dogged display but it went unrewarded as Adrian Cashmore's late penalty sealed victory for the Maoris.

Ian McGeechan's men had confounded expectations to more than match the powerful Maoris for long periods, only to lose out in a tense finale.

A Craig Joiner try had levelled the scores at 15-15 with 14 minutes left, but Duncan Hodge spurned a simple penalty chance to take the lead and Cashmore made the Scots pay with his winning effort five minutes from time.

Unrewarded

Even then Hodge failed with two drop-goal attempts at the death, the second the last kick of the match, to ensure the tourists efforts would go unrewarded.

But against a side containing eight All Blacks, this was a performance which showed that even without several key players, Scotland could compete at this level.

This was a timely boost ahead of next Saturday's first Test in Dunedin.

Scotland were forced into a late change to their starting line-up when Glenn Metcalfe was withdrawn with a sore heel.

His place on the right wing went to Shaun Longstaff, with Cameron Murray drafted on to the bench.

Scotland got their first points on the board in the 11th minute, when centre Daryl Gibson was penalised for holding on to the ball and Hodge slotted the kick.

Soft try

Hooker Steve Brotherstone had landed heavily on his right shoulder in the build-up however, and was promptly replaced by Gordon Bulloch.

But having taken the initiative, the Scots relaxed and conceded a soft try two minutes later.

The Maoris' dreadlocked flanker Matua Parkinson slipped through some slack fringe defence in midfield, evading several tacklers before slipping the ball inside to number eight Deon Muir to sprint in under the posts.

From a scrum, number eight Ross Beattie picked up and fed White, who powered his way over from a metre out.

Hodge converted for a 10-8 lead, and with some committed tackling repelling the star-studded Maori backs, Scotland looked set to press home their advantage.

The scores were equal at 10-10 at the interval.

Mysterious penalty

The Scots suffered a major blow early in the second half when the impressive McLaren limped off with an ankle problem, Joiner entering the midfield fray.

The tide appeared to be turning the Maoris' way when Honiss awared a mysterious penalty in centre field, Tom Smith leaving the referee in no doubt as to what he thought of the decision.

But Cashmore, almost by way of apology, sliced the penalty wide of the posts.

The introduction of replacements Bruce Reihana and Roger Randle seemed to galvanize the Maori backs into action however.

There was a sense of inevitability about the score which arrived after 63 minutes, Reihana sending Parkinson in at the right corner.

Cashmore missed with the conversion however.

Scotland rallied impressively from the setback, Paterson collecting a kick out of defence, evading two on-rushing Maoris and sending the overlapping Joiner in at the left corner.

Hodge was unable to add the extra points from the touchline to leave the scores deadlocked at 15-15 however, and was similarly off target when presented with a golden opportunity to edge the Scots ahead.

Cashmore's riposte compounded his error, extending the hosts' winning run to 24.

Teams:

New Zealand Maoris: Cashmore, Berryman, Gibson, Mayerhofler, Ralph, Jackson, Duggan, McDonnell, Hewitt, Feek, Tito, Waller, Marsh, Parkinson, Muir. Replacements: Flynn, Reihana, Randle, McFarland, Edwards, Makiri, Cooksley.

Scotland: Paterson, Longstaff, Shiel, McLaren, Moir, Hodge, Nicol, Smith, Brotherstone, B. Stewart, S. Murray, R. Metcalfe, White, Simpson, Beattie. Replacements: G. Bulloch, M. Stewart, Fullarton, Petrie, Beveridge, Joiner, C. Murray.

Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)