Blacks to a 0-0 draw

which rucked, which [Hawick prop] Hugh Mcleod learned against Vic Cavanagh’s Otago. It allowed us to live with bigger opponents.”

Scotland’s forwards reached every breakdown first and piled into the Kiwis at every opportunity, flanker Pringle Fisher hitting Meads so hard that he knocked him out. Behind the scrum, a talented back division containing five of the outstanding London Scottish side tackled the tourists to a standstill, full-back Stewart Wilson fielded a deluge of high balls, and half-backs Gregor Sharp and Tremayne Rodd opted for a tight kicking game that frustrated the New Zealanders.

“Their full-back Don Clarke was the best kicker in the world, so we tried to play in their half because the balls back then were so heavy he needed to be quite close to score,” says Telfer. “It was a very good match, a classic of its kind despite being scoreless. I’ve seen reports that say we could have won but we didn’t deserve anything more than a draw, although we were a good second best.”

If Telfer had a foretaste of the All Blacks when he played for the South, prop Dave Rollo came in cold that day. The Fife farmer had missed the North and Midlands match against the tourists, but despite playing for provincial club Howe of Fife, with 19 of his 40 caps under his belt plus a Lions tour to South Africa the previous year, he was typical of Scotland’s rugged yet mobile pack.

“There were maybe 90,000 people packed into Murrayfield and it felt like they were right on top of us but it wasn’t intimidating because I could hear someone shouting, ‘up the Howe!’ so I knew I had one fan!” says Rollo.

“New Zealand started with a really relaxed haka, which I loved. I’d already beaten Australia and we were a good team so none of us were worried. I got on really well with the Kiwis because most of them were farmers like me.”

At the end of proceedings, the crowd were ecstatic, chanting: “We want Scotland!” only to find that the men in blue were too exhausted to contemplate a lap of honour.