9 Nov 2008

All Blacks win in Edinburgh

12:17 pm on 9 November 2008

The All Blacks have kicked off their quest for another Grand Slam in style by beating Scotland 32 - 6 at Murrayfield, scoring two tries in each half.

Winger Anthony Tuitavake and halfback Piri Weepu crossed the line in the first 40 and the others went to centre Richard Kahui and lock Anthony Boric, who also picked up the second of two yellow cards produced in the first half - one to each team - for offside play late in the half.

Scotland's Nick De Luca earned the first in the third minute for a professional foul.

Isaea Toeava was replaced by Corey Jane at half time after Toeava suffered a shoulder injury at the end of the first half.

The New Zealand coach Graham Henry is calling it "a good start".

Forwards Liam Messam, Jamie Mackintosh and Kieran Read all played their first game and the captain Keven Mealamu singled out Read for a special mention.

Mealamu says the team spoke before the game about how to help the new players adjust to Test rugby - which came down to the team playing well as a unit.

Messam, who played at No.8, says Murrayfield has an awesome atmosphere, it was a quick tempo game and he enjoyed it, even though the All Blacks took some time to gel.

In the other Tests, Ireland beat Canada 55 - 0 at Limerick while France had to work a lot harder to defeat Argentina 12 - 6 at Marseille.

Earlier England beat the Pacific Islanders by 39 points to 13 at Twickenham in manager Martin Johnson's first game in charge, South Africa beat Wales 20 to 15 in Cardiff while Australia struggled to beat Italy by 30 to 20 in Padua.