Speaking after the game, Knoyle who was delighted to be in the Wales camp for this tour after only one season with the Scarlets squad said: "It is such an honour to play for your country, but the experience was quite weird for me.
"It was very disappointing to have lost like that. We have been training so well and were hopeful of a much better result. We know it will come and we are not far away."
Despite the disappointment of the losing to the All Blacks on Saturday, Knoyle said he'd had plenty of messages from friends and family in his hometown of Gynneath - and his Scarlets colleagues back home were proud and pleased to see the enthusiastic young scrum-half get his just rewards. Knoyle becomes the 199th Scarlet to be capped for Wales.
Scarlets Head Coach, Nigel Davies, who coached six of the Wales players on duty on Saturday to their first international caps including Lee Bryne, Jon Davies, Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips, Tavis Knoyle and Rob McCusker, said "We're all really pleased for Tavis to see him achieve his first cap and hope it's the start of many more big achievements for this strong young player. He has worked really hard with us, is really keen to achieve and shows signs of an exceptional ability. He will have gained a lot from this tour with Wales despite the results."
All five Scarlets in the Wales 22 were on the field against New Zealand. Scarlets fly-half Stephen Jones went off in the 57th minute and is awaiting results on an injured hand. Scarlets centre Jon Davies and flanker Rob McCusker both came on as replacements late in the second half.
With Andrew Bishop now out with a broken hand, it is expected that Jon Davies will get a start for Wales in the final test in New Zealand alongside Jamie Roberts in the centre.
Stephen Jones, who kicked a drop goal to take Wales ahead in the opening part of the game said that the second half was disappointing for Wales, particularly after such a strong Wales performance in the first half putting the All Blacks under pressure with a tight 15-9 home side lead at half-time. He said: "They are a great attacking outfit. From our perspective we are disappointed we allowed them to play so well in the second half. Dan Carter is a great player and he played very well against us. Fortunately we have two Tests. We'll work hard this week and we'll make sure we get better."
Tavis Knoyle was born and bred in Pontneddfechan and played his youth rugby with Glynneath RFC, then Neath RFC before moving to the Scarlets last season. He played for the Ospreys at U16 level and has Wales' caps at U16, U18 and U20 level. Knoyle was released by Neath with one year left to run on his contract and joined the Scarlets in May 2009 on a two-year contract.
