It was a record setting day for Shaun Johnson, as he became the all-time greatest test points scorer for the New Zealand rugby league in a Rugby League World Cup match where the Kiwis sledged the Scots so badly that they may decide to abandon the game entirely.
The final score was 74 – 6.
Someone might be tempted to think that the ABs would show at least a smidge of hospitality to the tourists, but the concept seems entirely foreign to the All Blacks, unless someone wanted to make the point that the Kiwis could have scored 100 if they were so inclined.
So, while the game was not the sort of compelling match objective observers might have preferred, it did send a message to the rest of the world that a narrow loss to the Wallabies in a dead rubber Bledisloe Cup match in Australia was not a signal of the demise of New Zealand rugby dominance.
Johnson scored a walk-in try in the second half that moved him ahead of Matthew Ridge’s 168-point mark. Halfback Johnson scored 22-points for the match to move him to 175, but neither he nor Coach David Kidwell had any inkling of history being made.
The Kiwis destroyed the Samoans in the first round by the score of 38 – 8. The 74 in the game against Scotland equaled the ABs previous best from when they beat Tonga 74 – 0 in 1999.
It should be time to point out the need for improvement on the defensive side, should it not? Letting the Scots light up the scoreboard for six points is a chink in the old armour, eh?
New Zealand next play Tonga, whose prospects have been bolstered by having defectors from other sides join in protest over some disciplinary actions imposed on some coke sniffers.
New Zealand players Peta Hiku and Te Maire Martin both scored hat tricks. The ABs held the Scots scoreless in the first half, before their defense collapsed and became porous in the second, permitting Oscar Thomas to score a try and Danny Addis to notch a goal.