However, Frank Hadden’s men created several good opportunities and put the tourists under intense pressure for long spells.

And De Luca maintains the experience will stand them in good stead for their second Bank of Scotland Corporate autumn test.

“We genuinely believed we could come away with a result and we haven’t by a considerable margin,” the 24-year-old said.

“But we still believe we can come here on Saturday and hopefully create an upset.

“We have seen we can live with the top sides. If we did have any doubt this week, we won’t next week.”

Scotland failed to capitalise on some strong scrummaging displays close to the New Zealand try line, with Mike Blair dropping the ball when presented with a good chance.

But De Luca, who was sent to the sin-bin early in the game, hopes a few breakthroughs can spark a flood of tries.

“It’s the same with Edinburgh just now, we are creating a lot of chances, which is the big positive,” he said.

“But we are not finishing them off, which is frustrating.

“If we want to live with these teams, we have to address that and start crossing that whitewash.

“It could be as simple as getting into the habit of it and we go from there.

“We will look at the video and see how these opportunities were missed and we will address it this week going into the South Africa game.”