Rugby: Murray - Aussies still lead the line

Scotland international Scott Murray insists that Australia still rule the roost at the line-out despite the 37-6 defeat by New Zealand.

The Saracens lock has long been admired around the globe for his own ability from the throw.

But 25-year-old Murray maintains that the Wallabies still outshine their southern hemisphere counterparts at the line-out.

‘‘I still think Australia are the best at defence at the moment, although New Zealand also make it very difficult to win your own ball,’’ said Murray.

‘‘Looking at the game now, we should have taken it more to them. It took us a while to win a line-out.

‘‘It was tough out there. As soon as they got behind us, we were under pressure all the way.

‘‘We had to try and move them about a bit and we should have stuck in a few more drives to get behind them.

‘‘We knew we were still in it after half-time but the missed tackles saw them get behind us and they scored a few tries at the end, which was quite annoying.

‘‘We could have been more effective at clearing ball in the front five. We gave them too much time on the ball and that put the others under a lot of pressure, so that is something we have to work on.’’

But Murray maintains that Scotland can take great heart from their display against the All Blacks with the Six Nations just two months away.

‘‘We can take a bit of belief into the Six Nations now,’’ said Murray.

‘‘We were in it for 60 minutes and, if we can work on our defence, we can be a force to be reckoned with. The guys worked really hard out there.’’

But Scotland centre James McLaren believes that the team shot themselves in the foot against the All Blacks.

‘‘We didn’t play enough rugby. We kicked into their hands and played defensive,’’ said McLaren.

‘‘When you give them so many opportunities, it is going to come back and haunt you.

‘‘I know myself that I spilled a bit of ball and that doesn’t make you happy.

‘‘But we didn’t really have enough moves or play enough open-field rugby to score tries.

‘‘You are not going to beat the All Blacks by just kicking penalties.’’