Rugby-Scotland squander golden chance to finally beat All Blacks

EDINBURGH (Reuters) -Scotland rued a massive missed opportunity as they let a potential historic first win over New Zealand slip at Murrayfield on Saturday after fighting back to be level with the All Blacks 10 minutes from time.

Scotland have not beaten the Kiwis in 120 years of tests between the nations but had a glorious opportunity to break that duck in a roaring comeback after being 17-0 down at halftime.

They fought back to level, only to see the All Blacks score late to win 25-17.

"It's hard to describe but I'm really disappointed because the effort that went into that performance meant the win was there (for the taking)," Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said.

"We needed to kick on when we got to 17-17 and there were a couple of big moments that swung New Zealand's way. But we shouldn't have let them get away with a 17-point lead."

SCOTLAND SCORELESS IN FIRST HALF

Scotland failed to score in the first half, roaring back into contention after the break.

"We have to win those big moments when the game's there for us and (defeat) is going to be very hard to take, but the elements of our performance show that we're up there with the best teams in the world, but we just need to take the next step," the coach added.

Captain Sione Tuipulotu said it was a devastating loss that would take time to digest.

"I'm really gutted for everyone in the stadium, the coaching staff, the players who put so much into that performance," he said.

"I could stand here and say I'm proud of the group for coming back, but we came to win and we didn't get that done. That is the reality of it all, and the next couple of days are really going to hurt for the group.”

The skipper added that Scotland had shown considerable improvement.

“I feel like that's just not enough for us anymore. We're a better team than just growth. We came here to win and we didn't get it done," Tuipuloto said.

"So, we’ve got to be hard on ourselves because the game was there to be won. We got held up over the try line three times. We knocked a ball over the line once. We had a lot of opportunities there, and we couldn't capitalise."

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ed Osmond)