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All Blacks warm up for Wales with Scotland thriller

All Blacks warm up for Wales with Scotland thriller

New Zealand warmed up for their Under Armour Series meeting with Wales by edging a thrilling contest with Scotland to emerge as 22-17 winners.

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If this Saturday’s game emulates the quality and the entertainment of that on show in Edinburgh, then a sold-out Principality Stadium crowd will be in for a real treat.

In the end it was world champions the All Blacks who eventually came out on top, but only after being given a real scare by their opposition at BT Murrayfield.

Codie Taylor, Damian McKenzie and fly-half star Beauden Barrett all scored tries for Steve Hansen’s side, Sonny Bill Williams serving notice of his intention to produce a stellar display against Wales by creating two of those three efforts.

The hulking centre – sent off against the British & Irish Lions in the summer – produced a delicate grubber kick for McKenzie to score.

Then, with his team down to 14 men, a trademark Williams offload released McKenzie and his pass saw Barrett race to the line. New Zealand’s pivot also kicked two conversions and a penalty.

It failed to stop Scotland from giving their all though and tries from Jonny Gray and Huw Jones set up what was a grandstand finish.

Gregor Townsend’s side showed Wales how to take on the world’s best by playing some enterprising rugby and could have stolen the win late on.

Impressive full-back Stuart Hogg raced through, but was tackled into touch.

Looking ahead to facing Wales, Hansen said: “If some of our attitude was wrong to begin with, the way Scotland played from the start changed that for them.

“You could sense it. You think things are going along quite nicely, then there are little things that give you alarm bells.

“I don’t think we were complacent, but sometimes preparation and playing is a different thing. It is a bit like cleaning the windows. You clean them really well and when you are desperate and urgent, you get the corner bits.

“When you are not, you don’t. You still think the window is clean, but it is not. You’ve got to clean it properly every week. You can’t miss a bit out in Test rugby.”

New Zealand will be without injured duo Rieko Ioane and Luke Romano to face Wales after they suffered shoulder and foot injuries respectively against Scotland.

Meanwhile, Wales’ final autumn opponents South Africa continued to show signs of an upturn in form as they claimed victory over France.

The Springboks were winners by the narrowest of margins, emerging with an 18-17 success over Les Bleus at the Stade de France in Paris. 

Dillyn Leyds opened the scoring for the away side and centre Jesse Kriel added a second try just after the hour mark to seal victory.

Talented back Handre Pollard kicked two conversions and a penalty.

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