blunted

In the last 18 minutes, the visitors scored three unanswered tries - all converted - to turn a cakewalk into a struggle for the Scots, whose edge blunted incredibly in the second half.

“The astonishing thing is not that Los Angeles burns but that so much of its development has enhanced rather than blunted the threat from fire,” Pyne wrote last month.

From there, captain Wolvaardt and the emerging talent of Dercksen regrouped and blunted England's attack effectively, calmly rotating the strike and pouncing on any width to accumulate a steady fifty partnership.

But as we age, the MYC response to exercise is blunted, perhaps explaining a reduced ability to recover from exercise and maintain or gain muscle.

It is rare that Australia's attack is blunted, certainly at home.