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By Paul Rolton
All Blacks V Scotland November 8th 2025.
Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks in 32 previous attempts, dating back to 1904, and but for the magic of All Black Damien McKenzie that could have all changed.
The All Blacks got off to a flyer when in the 2nd minute big second row forward Josh Lord, who had his best All Black test in his 10th game, charge up the midfield from a poorly defended ruck, to draw in two Scottish defenders and send outstanding All Black halfback Cam Roigard cantering away untouched. With Beauden Barrett converting from close range the All Blacks could not have asked for a better start.
The next 38 minutes produced a battle that anyone’s Scottish forefathers would have been proud of, wave after wave of All Black attack was repelled by the brave Scottish defenders with none better than loose forward Gregor Brown who was everywhere on both attacked and defense, whilst Captain Sione Tuipulotu lead from the front.
The All Blacks were probably a little guilty of trying too much to early, instead of building phases and stretching the Scottish defense to create space. They also did not gain the hoped for dominance up front with the Scottish front row, lead by outstanding hooker Ewan Ashman, proving immovable.
The Scots had moments on attack also, being twice held up over the line, for tries that may well have changed the result, whilst having mercurial 1st 5/8 Finn Russell suffer a bad knee knock early did not help their cause. However, the All Blacks defense was relentless with outstanding No 8 Peter Lakai and the midfield of Leicester Fainga’anuku and Quin Tupaea to the fore.
The All Blacks were forced, after numerous attempts to score tries were thwarted, to take a penalty kick at goal in the 28th minute, which Barrett again converted from close range for a 10-0 lead. But still the Scottish defense was impenetrable, and their attack was starting to cause problems for the All Blacks defense.
The first of three All Blacks yellow cards came in the 33rd minute when winger Leroy Carter impeded his opposite number, who had hacked the ball ahead from loose phase play, with Carter being dismissed for 10 minutes for an attempted foot trip.
The All Blacks then scored what should have been the try that took the game away from Scotland, after Will Jordan injected himself into an All black attack down the blind, he in turn found Wallace Sititi, who with the ball held in two hands had the Scottish defense in two minds, allowing Sititi to storm into the Scottish 22 metre area, and with a nice return pass to Jordan, his pace was to much for the defenders as he scored under the bar for an easy Barrett conversion.
With a 17-0 lead and halftime called by the Australian ref Nic Berry the All Blacks looked well and truly like they would canter away with yet another victory over the gallant Scots. How wrong we all were.
The second half started poorly for the All Blacks with a spilt kick off receipt, and this seemed to be just the encouragement the Scots needed. The Scots started to dominate possession and continued to move the ball wide to find holes in a still very resolution All Blacks defense. It was Ashman who put the Scots on the board in the 45th minute when Scotland pushed to within 5 metres of the All Black line from a penalty and from a well executed lineout the Scottish maul took over, splintering the All Blacks attempt at defending and Ashman appear from the middle of the maul to score the try. To make things worse for the All Blacks inspirational Captain Ardie Savea was sent to the bin for collapsing the maul, and the All Blacks were again down to 14 men. Russell converted for a 17-7 score line.
Five minutes later and the Scots were at it again, another penalty against the All Blacks saw them again forced back inside their defensive 22. The Scot’s again win clean lineout ball and set up the maul. With no forward movement they fire the ball to Tuipulotu, who goes within metres of the line. Big Scots lock Grant Cummings carries again to the left, before the ball is released to the backs with the big Fullback Blair Kinghorn freeing his arms in a tackle for the pass to winger Kyle Steyn who scored untouched and with Russell converting it was suddenly 17-14 with 28 to play.
Both Codie Taylor, who had a big game and winger Caleb Clarke snuffed out Scottish attacks with well-timed tackles, the later having to leave the field for a head knock review, with him not returning to finish the game. Roigard made a try saving tackle on Darcy Graham in the 56th minute and the All Blacks looked like they were just hanging on.
A 59th minute penalty from Russell evened the score up at 17-17, and with a sniff of their first win over the All Blacks the Scots looked like the better team and history looked like to be in the making.
A rear mistake from Sititi, who was otherwise outstanding, saw him go to the sinbin for a deliberate knock down and again with 14 men the All Blacks were looking vulnerable. Both Lakai and replacement prop Pasilio Tosi were prominent with ball in hand as the seesaw battle continued, whilst Fabian Holland, who was again a huge force in an All Black pack that struggled to dominate, and replacement lock Sam Darry competed well at lineout time to stifel out Scottish attacking opportunities.
With 10 minutes remaining, enter McKenzie. A 60 metre 50/20 kick where he threaded the needle between two Scottish defenders put the All Blacks within 5 metres of the line and the All Blacks could sniff a chance of what had for a long time look like an unlikely victory.
Holland again wins clean lineout ball for the All Blacks, another charge from Tupaea, then Tamiti Wiliams the big loose head prop is dragged down just short whilst Jordan also goes close, before referee Berry takes them back for a penalty from the lineout.
Another clean line win and another All Blacks advantage as they look for the winning try through the pack who come up just short, Riogard then sends a long pass to Barrett who in turn sends a Hail Mary pass to no man’s land that Fainga’anuku manages to grab before the defense gets to him, he in turn slips a pass to McKenzie who looks for all money well cover by the Scottish defense before he performs an amazing act of almost circus like performance to go over in the corner. He scoreswith the ball over his head whilst lying flat on his back with the two defenders who seemed to have him cover both ending up in touch on their own, a remarkable piece of strength and skill from probably the smallest man on the field. McKenzie was unable to convert his own try and with only a 5 point lead the Scots were not out of it yet. The game was put out of reach the Scots in the 79th minute from a lineout penalty, McKenzie sneaks the ball inside the lefthand upright from close to 48 metres out, for the 25-17 final score line.
A great game of rugby from both sides, but in the end the All Blacks took their opportunities a little better than Scotland who will be wondering what they must do to win against New Zealand.
Coach Scott Robertson will again be looking at the replays of this game, wondering what happened in the second 40. The players themselves will have to take some ownership of letting Scotland back into the game in the second half, whilst the legend of Damien McKenzie has another chapter written in it.
The All Blacks now move onto Twickenham in London to take on England and will have to prepare well for a barrage of well place kicking bombs from a team that probably won’t play with the expanse of the Scot’s or Irish in the two earlier games.