By
SABC Sport
10th November 2025
New Zealand looked imposing in the first half against the Scots and raced to a 17-0 lead at halftime.
However, issues with discipline allowed Scotland back into the game after the All Blacks picked up three yellow cards.
Savea was one of the players to spend 10 minutes in the sin bin and he said it was tough being forced to watch from the sidelines, unable to help his side.
"You've got to come on and bring composure, energy, the right sort of energy the boys need," he said after the game.
"I'm proud of the boys. We could have gone either way, with the crowd in the background.
"We could either take a breath and move towards that pressure, with what the Scottish were bringing to us, or we could be calm and then nail our next moments, and next moments.
"I thought we did that towards the end.
"It's on us when we are in the lead like that to ask how we can be more ruthless because we weren't proud.
"In rugby, you're never satisfied, or we're never happy with a performance, but to come out of that, and the special occasion it was for Murrayfield, as All Blacks under the pressure we were, we're grateful and happy."
New Zealand head coach Scott Robertson heaped praise on fullback Damian McKenzie, who played a significant role in steadying the ship late on.
"You need someone that's clutch, and he's pretty mercurial. He can kick a 50:22, score a try and kick that penalty," Robertson said.
"You know he's going to inject something, and he did with his timing and his skill set. He's tough, and he trusts himself. We're pleased he did it again, and over and over.
"But you've still got to create it. We went in at halftime, and we were pretty clear what we needed to do, but dropped the kickoff, and 20 minutes later, we were under a lot of pressure.
"It was a proper Test match."
