Scotland confirm 2025 summer match against Māori All Blacks
8 Dec 2024Scotland will take on Māori All Blacks next year as part of their 2025 summer tour, at Semenoff Stadium in Whangārei.
The tour kicks off against Māori All Blacks on Saturday 5 July, and will be the first time the sides have met since 2000, when the hosts edged a narrow encounter 18-15 in New Plymouth.
It will be just the third match between the Māori All Blacks and Scotland with the other encounter coming at Murrayfield in Edinburgh in 1998.
As per World Rugby’s San Francisco calendar agreement which was decided in 2017, Scotland will then embark on a two test tour to the Pacific Islands with fixtures to be confirmed in due course.
Scotland’s last summer tour, in the Americas, represented a valuable opportunity with 11 players making their debut. The matches gave more players the chance to impress on the international stage and provided a catalyst for them to shine at Scottish Gas Murrayfield in the autumn, with the likes of Max Williamson producing a stand-out performance against South Africa and Arron Reed also scoring two tries against Portugal.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said: “This year’s summer tour was of great benefit, enabling us to deepen our player pool and test ourselves against challenging opposition. A number of the players that won their first caps on tour then played in the Autumn Nations Series and are challenging for places in our Six Nations squad.
“Next year’s tour represents an opportunity to take on two quality Test teams in the Pacific Islands, which is always a unique tour for our players to experience on and off the field. The Māori All Blacks game will set us up for the physical challenges we’ll face later on the tour. We are excited about returning to a part of the world where rugby is central to their culture.
“Playing in New Zealand is always special, especially against a side with such deep rugby history as Māori All Blacks. It has been a while since we last visited New Zealand and it will be a brilliant way to start the tour.”
Fixture details
Māori All Blacks v Scotland: Saturday 5 July 2025, Semenoff Stadium – Whangārei, kick-off 3.35pm local time
