Josh Kerr insists it will be a ‘bucket-list moment’ when he delivers the match ball at Murrayfield prior to this afternoon’s clash between Scotland and New Zealand.Athletics star Kerr will have the honour of walking out prior to kick-off and will be afforded a standing ovation from the home crowd after a record-breaking year.The 29-year-old Scot smashed the mile world record back in July before then going on to win gold over the same distance at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.Scotland will be bidding to break new ground of their own by beating the All Blacks for the first time in history. And Kerr would love to see them follow his lead by raising the bar to a new level in what should be a blockbuster clash in the Nations Championship.‘This is where all the fun opportunities come,’ said Kerr, whose brother, Jake, won one cap for Scotland back in 2019.‘Over the last five or six years, I’ve turned down quite a lot (of extra activities away from athletics). But when an opportunity like this comes up, it is a no-brainer. We have to do it. This is a goosebumps, bucket-list moment. Athletics star Josh Kerr (left) with Scotland skipper Sione Tuipulotu at Murrayfield The Scotland players go through their final preparations for the clash against New Zealand‘To have the honour of doing something that not many people have been able to do, yeah, it’s really cool.‘Watching Scotland play at home is a core memory for me, but it’s been too long since I’ve been able to be in the stadium for a home game. I’m extremely excited and I think the place is going to be buzzing.‘It’s probably even more special because it’s New Zealand. This Scotland team are trying to do something that no one’s really ever done in a Scotland jersey.‘That’s what I tried to do this year for myself. If I can give any little nuggets that I learned this year, that would be great as well.‘I think it’s about making sure that you don’t listen to people that have never done it. It’s important to keep your circle small: coaching staff, family members, team-mates, all with that strong belief.‘There’s an energy in the Scotland team right now. There’s a strong belief of, you know, why not now? It’s a great energy they were able to have in the Six Nations.‘Obviously, it didn’t go perfectly, but they were able to compete at a very high level. And now they’re going to hopefully continue that momentum into this game.‘The outside world is going to be telling you a lot of things. But the outside world doesn’t have to go in front of a full stadium at Murrayfield and go and compete.‘It’s going to be about present moment effort and making great decisions in the face of chaos. It’s an amazing opportunity ahead and I hope it’s a very exciting one for them.‘When you’re trying to do something no one’s ever done, you don’t need to listen to people that have also never done it.’Kerr is keeping himself ticking over in training at present as he plots what his next move will be in 2027.Reflecting on those incredible couple of weeks across July and August when he broke the mile world record and then clinched Commonwealth Gold in Glasgow, he added: ‘Yeah, it’s been a good year.‘I just view them as a hand-in-hand experience because they were so close to each other. It set the tone for a home Commonwealth Games being able to have that world record in the distance I was going to be racing in.‘And then from there I was able to go home and it was just such a different experience. Both of them were completely different.‘I think the tough part is that I wasn’t probably able to enjoy both of them individually quite as well because they were really close together. But the world record definitely elevated that experience at the Commonwealth Games and hopefully elevated everyone else’s experience watching it. It created more belief in me being able to come home and do the job.‘It went as smoothly as you can really ask for. If you see the results on paper, you’d say you can’t really do much more than that. And now it’s how can we build on that? How can we keep consistency at this level?‘A big goal now is how can we continue to find that consistency? What did we do well and what can we do a little bit better?‘I was lucky enough to compete in Glasgow in 2024 for the world indoors and I won that. And then now 2026 outdoors in the Commonwealth Games.‘The more championships we can have in the UK, the better. I seem to get results there, so hopefully that can continue.’