Scotland have failed to register a victory against rugby’s most famous side in 117 years but they’ll look to end that hoodoo on Saturday at Murrayfield. 

New Zealand have won 30 of the 32 encounters between the sides and they remain overwhelming favourites this weekend.

Gregor Townsend’s current squad, however, is viewed by many as the greatest in Scotland’s history and they’ve run the All Blacks relatively close in their last three encounters. 

The largest margins across those games was eight points – in 2014 and 2022 – and Graham, who scored in the last game at Murrayfield, knows Scotland must be at their best to realistically have any chance. 

“We can go toe-to-toe with anybody, but we need to be at our best,” admitted Graham. “That’s for a full 80 minutes, but they’re no mugs. They’re an incredible team with the chemistry they’ve got behind them so they’re going to be coming here as favourites.

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“Everyone knows we’ve got that monkey on our back, never beating them before, so it’ll be very special over the week.

“Growing up you always want to play against the All Blacks so you don’t get any bigger occasions. It’s going to be a special Murrayfield game. The atmosphere is going to be incredible, it’s going to be a real buzz, building for it throughout the whole week, so that’s exciting.”

Asked whether the recent close encounters would inspire confidence in the Scotland squad, Graham responded: “Yes, especially since the last two games were close. I just wish we had the opportunity to play them more often and really test ourselves.

Darcy Graham scored against the All Blacks in 2022. (Image: Colorsport / Shutterstock)

“I feel like if we played them more, that confidence would come back and we’d end up believing in ourselves even more, that we can’t go toe-to-toe with these boys. 

“Come Saturday, we need to be at our best and then we can get close to these guys. It’s an exciting week and the boys will be right up for it.”

New Zealand have lost twice this year already to Argentina and South Africa but they were impressive in defeating Ireland 26-13 on Saturday.

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They will be without captain Scott Barrett and his influential brother Jordie at Murrayfield but Graham laughed off suggestions that the All Blacks’ aura is diminishing. 

“Not really, no!” he replied. “They’ve got quality across their whole team, they can swap boys in and out. They’re world class. So, no, they’re not really slipping at all. We know the challenge is coming on Saturday. It‘s exciting and I can’t wait for it.”