Jason Ryan pinpoints discipline failures behind All Blacks' maul struggles against Scotland

All Blacks assistant coach Jason Ryan has identified discipline and decision-making failures — rather than maul defence itself — as the primary reasons New Zealand struggled to contain Scotland’s driving maul during the first half of their Nations Championship clash at Murrayfield.

Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman crossed for a hat-trick in the opening forty minutes, two of his tries coming directly from rolling mauls, as Dave Rennie’s side opened the scoring and put the All Blacks under sustained pressure. New Zealand eventually wrestled back momentum in the second half, but the defensive lapses in the first half remained a clear talking point heading into their next fixture against Wales.

Speaking to media in Bath, where the squad is based ahead of the Wales match, Ryan explained that the post-match review focused on what was happening before the maul rather than the maul defence in isolation.

“Yeah, we talked around a little bit of accuracy and decision making, discipline-wise, was probably front of mind, which was something we also talked about before the game,” Ryan said. “But we put a couple of things into context around where the boys are at emotionally in that first 40.”

Ryan pointed specifically to the impact of consecutive yellow cards in amplifying the maul problem. “When we have double yellow cards back-to-back, it puts your game under pressure, puts our D under pressure. Next minute you’re going defending a maul with six people. Then they add their backs in, and next minute it’s a 12 on eight. So that made it a little bit tough.”

The ongoing solution, Ryan stressed, is reducing the penalty count that puts the team in those positions in the first place. “The ongoing fix is why we’re getting to defend them so much — and that’s the accuracy and decision making, getting penalised, getting put in the corner.”

Despite the defensive difficulties, New Zealand’s own lineout was near-flawless, claiming all 17 of their lineout attempts in Edinburgh. The All Blacks also scored a pair of tries directly off first-phase lineout set-plays, something Ryan indicated the team has invested considerable preparation time in.

“What it does is it puts defence a little bit in two minds because it’s like, well, what’s next? We hadn’t sort of showed too much of that this year, so it’s really pleasing because there’s a bit of work that goes into it without complicating it,” Ryan said.