Fletcher Newell hails All Blacks scrum after dominant second half dismantles Scotland at Murrayfield

New Zealand’s scrum delivered its most dominant performance of the year at Murrayfield, overpowering Scotland in the second half to help the All Blacks outscore their hosts 19-0 after the interval — a sharp turnaround from the set-piece struggles that plagued them during the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test series against South Africa just two months earlier.

Tighthead prop Fletcher Newell, who played 62 minutes of the Test, credited the squad’s depth and training-week intensity for the improvement. Three Scotland props were penalised at the scrum, with Zander Fagerson pinged twice as consecutive set-pieces in the second half swung momentum firmly in New Zealand’s favour.

“I think we’ve been building really nicely,” Newell told reporters post-match. “Obviously, working through the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, I feel like we’ve gone from strength to strength with our scrum, and we’ve been putting in a lot of work in that. Credit to the boys that set us up throughout the week — the boys that aren’t playing. Jeez, we’ve got so many good props in our squad, and anyone could be out there, and to be able to scrum against them, train against them, it makes our job easier when we go out on the field on Saturday.”

Newell also pointed to the return of lock Scott Barrett as a significant factor. Barrett missed the opening nine months of the year through injury and a non-playing sabbatical, but his reintegration has added both experience and physicality to the All Blacks’ engine room.

“Having Scott Barrett back adds a lot of weight in the engine room, and he’s a highly experienced scrummager, and he loves it,” Newell said. “I think it just probably took a lot of learning and problem-solving. As All Blacks, we need to pride ourselves on our scrum, and it was awesome to be able to do that tonight.”

The performance was not without its difficulties. New Zealand’s indiscipline saw them reduced to 13 men in the 32nd minute, and the first half was a test of resilience as much as rugby.

“We faced a lot of adversity out there, especially in that first half,” Newell reflected. “We were put under a lot of pressure, a couple of yellow cards, and yeah, it was really difficult to stop their momentum when they got going forward.”

Newell himself finished the match with 13 tackles from 14 attempts without conceding a single penalty — a personal display that mirrored the collective discipline the All Blacks found in the second half after a fractious opening period.