Match Report: New Zealand vs Scotland (Rugby Union) 08.11.25

Murrayfield is 100 years old and today the Scottish national stadium wlecomes the mighty All Blacks. Scotland have never in history recorded a victory over New Zealand. I’m a dual national and proud of my New Zealand passport. I support the All Blacks in rugby and I look forward to cheering them on today in this Autumn series international. I’m going to try and follow the match and do a report for my website blog. I regularly cover the football with https://gerrardthered.com but writing about rugby is anew experience to me. I used to play rugby at a decent lebvel so know the game pretty well but bear with me as the modern rules confound everyone I think, including me, and I’m not that familiar with the current players on either side.

Straight after the kick off, Josh Lord picks the ball up at the back of a ruck and make a run and passes it off to scrum-half, Cam Roigard, to stroll in under the posts. Beauden Barrett has an easy conversion and the All Blacks lead 7-0 at Murrayfield.

In the aftermath of the early try Soctland have a good period of attack and embed themselves in the New Zealand 22, yet cannnot convert their territorial advantage into points.

The All Blacks start to ramp up the pressure, however. They attack and attack and go through phase after phase. Scotland are pinned back on their line but defend resolutely. They keep conceding penalties for offside and at 20 mins the ref warns them that the next player to infringe will be in the bin and off.

Five minutes later and the All Blacks now are defending for their lives. They manage to salvage a 22 kick and back we go. Scotland are staying in the game and making a match of it. They show that they are not scared of attacking New Zealand. They have done well to keep the score so far within one try.

At 29 minutes Beauden Barrett converts a penalty to bring it up to a more comfortable 10-0.

Scotland are attacking again but the All Blacks perform a counter ruck to retrieve the ball.. The All Black forwards have been impeccable at the breakdown today.

Leroy Carter sticks out a leg to trip up Darcy Graham and the All Black winger gets a yellow card so it’s man advantage to Scotland. Poor discipline and not nice to see.

Scotland apply the pressure with their extra man and just before half-time, Darcy Graham is clear through and looks set to score but the ref calls the game back for a forward pass.

Scotland are facing a penalty advantage in a scrum well inside the New Zealand half and switch off. The All Blacks break down the blind side with  Wallace Sititi proving too much for Darcy Graham to contain and he simply feeds it out to Will Jordan who scores at pace. Barrett converts and at half-time we have a kind scoreline of 17-0.

The game hasn’t been too expansive so far and to be fair to Scotland they have put up a strong resistance but I feel that there is a gulf in class between the two sides. Possession has been fairly evenly balanced – Scotland 47% New Zealand 53%.

6 minutes into the second half and Scotland get themselves back into the game. The forward are poised and rive over towards the line. Ewan Ashman manages to get the ball down for a try. New Zealand captain Ardie Savea is shown a yellow card for illegal play. Finn Russell converts and it’s now 17-7 so ten points for scotland to make up.

Scotland are on a high and keep up the pressure and at 50 minutes we have a major breakthrough. Ione Tuipulotu takes it up to the 5m line. Finn Russell goes wide and s[ins it out to a waiting and unmarked Kyle Steyn who makes the try score.. Russell adds the conversion and it’s 17-14 with a home crowd at Murrayfield absolutely ecstatic. It could be an upset for the All Blacks today.

Straight after the kick off and the All Blacks are again pinned back defending their own try line. Scotland are unstoppable!

Darcy Graham thinks he has taken Scotland into the lead as he dives into the corner thinking he has scored but he is in touch so New Zealand can breathe again.

At 60 minutes Scotland get a penalty for offside and Finn Russell scores the three points to bring the match level at 17-17. 20 minutes left for Scotland to get an historic victory. In 120 years of fixtures between the two countries, Scotland have never been victorious.

Wallace Sititi does a deliberate knock on and gets a yellow card and is off.

With six minutes left, Damian McKenzie rescues the All Blacks, diving into the corner to score, having fended off Blair Kinghorn. The conversion is no good. It’s 22-17.

Damian McKenzie takes a penalty with a minute left to make it 25-17 and the game finishes with this score. It was a nailbiter for the All Blacks and must be the closest Scotland have got to beating them in a long long time.

The All Blacks look far from the finished article. Scotland are looking good and I think that they will be proud of their performance today. The match was enjoyable and the second half, in particular was totally thirllling throughout. All Black Autumn Series victory. A fine win.