IT’S a 3-1 win-loss record so far for Gregor Townsend since he became coach of Scotland beginning with the June Tests but while the 24-19 rare win against the Wallabies in Sydney was something to savour for some time, Saturday’s game in Edinburgh against the All Blacks will be the first big challenge for Townsend and his boys.
Their other win in June was against Italy in Singapore but they later lost 22-27 to the Fijians in Suva.
Scotland did well against Samoa last weekend in Townsend’s first game in charge at home to score six tries to win 44-38 but they also allowed the Pacific Islanders to mount a late fightback and to score five tries.
Scotland showed much improvement in the previous three seasons, with much of the credit going to Kiwi coach Vern Cotter who’s now with French club Montpellier but Townsend, an 82-cap former assistant coach of the national side from 2009 and 2012, also had good success coaching the Glasgow Warriors.
Both he and captain John Barclay, while mindful of the strength and successes of the All Blacks, have told the team to have a positive mindset and not be overawed. They have seen how the Lions and the Wallabies got the better of the All Blacks this year and also how others managed to rattle the world champions.
The key is how you play and how you allow the All Blacks to play and one successful approach has been to use the rush defence and physicality against them at the breakdown.
The results from some of the matches this season have encouraged teams to feel more confident of an upset and to ponder about the vulnerability of the All Blacks.
The pressure facing the All Blacks is that because they are so used to winning and winning pretty, people expect them not to drop the ball or lose their lineouts. What this means is that they are expected to play the perfect game all the time.
But in most of the games where they played below their normal high standards, the All Blacks somehow managed to scrape through to win. They have been good at punishing the mistakes of their opponents but of the latter, only one or two sides have been able to do the same to them.
An example of this was in last weekend’s game when they went to sleep for much of the second-half after being hardly challenged by the French in the first 40 minutes.
The French mounted a fightback and remained in control for about 30 minutes, with the All Blacks unable to get out of their own half and being denied decent possession but in their only move to the French 22 late in the game, the All Blacks scored an easy, clinical try.
Apart from having the momentum of the win against Samoa behind them, the good news for Scotland is in having back star fullback Stuart Hogg and lock Jonny Gray from injury layoffs beginning the northern summer.
From the critics’ point of view, the issue of project players – those who qualify through ancestry or residency – was raised recently not for the first time but Townsend does not offer any apologies and has made clear that he will select whoever is available and eligible and this is a big help to a country that has a limited number of players compared to the likes of England, France or New Zealand.
Despite their commanding record against the Scots since 1905, the All Blacks are not taking their chances and have again named their strongest possible side.
The notable change is at hooker, where Codie Taylor gets to start in the absence of the injured Dane Coles who has returned home. This also gives Nathan Harries a place on the bench.
Captain and No. 8 Kieran Read and lock Luke Romano have both been cleared to play after an earlier injury scare.
The focus by the All Blacks in Edinburgh is to bring back their A game on track if only this will lessen the criticisms against them as a team that has supposedly lost its mana (control, power, authority in Maori).
The game kick offs at 1.15am Sunday Malaysian time.
But before this rugby fans must not miss the England-Wallabies game that starts at 11pm Saturday.
England had a perfect 4-0 record against the Aussies last year but this one looks too close to call.