Scotland ‘need next step’ after loss to New Zealand

Tries from Ewan Ashman and Kyle Steyn brought Scotland back to a riveting contest.

Darcy Graham and Rory Hutchinson crossed the line in the first half when Cameron Roigard and Will Jordan scored for the visitors.

“Teams get tired when you knock on the door,” said Townsend, who as head coach has lost three home tests against the All Blacks by single-digit margins.

“I would love to play New Zealand again next week. We are playing Argentina and we have to show what we have learned.

“This is the first time this team has played together since the Six Nations. It’s difficult to get that cohesion right away and it’s encouraging to see it grow over the course of the game.”

“But our effort was so frustrating that we couldn’t get a win.

“I believe that was the closest we came to winning. In the second half we were superior in terms of territory, pressure and talent. We haven’t done that against New Zealand in our history and we are better in terms of experience.

“Our journey doesn’t end today. We have a huge game next week and we’ll have bigger games in the Six Nations.”

Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu described the defeat as “bittersweet” and emphasized the importance of the win against Argentina, who opened the autumn series with a record score against the United States.

“I told the boys we needed a response at half-time,” he said. “We either lie down or we choose to leave.

“We had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“We have to recover next week because Argentina is not going to make it any easier.”