New Zealand beat Scotland 43-21 as Tuipulotu takes responsibility for discipline

New Zealand defeated Scotland 43-21 at Murrayfield in the Nations Championship, scoring seven tries despite Ewan Ashman's first-half hat-trick for the hosts. BBC Sport's match report recorded another unsuccessful Scottish attempt to beat the All Blacks: the teams have now met in 34 Tests, with New Zealand winning 32 and the other two drawn.

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Scotland stayed close through an opening half that produced seven tries between the sides. Wallace Sititi, Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor and Beauden Barrett crossed for New Zealand, while Ashman's three scores and Finn Russell's conversions left the hosts trailing 24-21 at the interval. Yellow cards for Peter Lakai and Sititi helped Scotland sustain their challenge.

The contest changed after the break. Scotland added no further points, while Josh Moorby, Barrett and Asafo Aumua scored to extend New Zealand's advantage. Barrett finished with two tries as the visitors turned a narrow half-time lead into a decisive victory.

In BBC Sport's separate post-match report, Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu accepted responsibility for his side's disciplinary problems, including his own spell in the sin-bin. Scotland conceded 13 penalties compared with New Zealand's eight. Tuipulotu said the team had not been accurate enough after half-time and acknowledged the damage caused by leaving his teammates without their captain for 10 minutes.

Head coach Gregor Townsend also identified discipline and errors as central to the defeat. He said Scotland had been unable to build on their first-half work because they spent so much of the second period without possession. Although he felt parts of the defensive effort had been effective, penalties repeatedly handed New Zealand opportunities and forced Scotland to defend close to their own line.

Townsend credited New Zealand's work at the scrum and breakdown and said the visitors deserved their win. Scotland still have home matches against Australia and Japan this month to complete their Nations Championship campaign. Tuipulotu described next week's Australia fixture as a must-win game, saying the squad would regroup after a performance that failed to match its first-half competitiveness across the full match.