All Blacks to get the ‘game of their lives’ from Scots
Scotland have a new attacking mindset and will be out to give the All Blacks ‘‘the game of their lives’’.
That’s the belief of British great Jeremy Guscott, these days a respected rugby pundit for the BBC.
Guscott feels Scotland now have one of the best coaches in the business in charge in Gregor Townsend who can add a new dimension to the team on the back of improvements made by their former New Zealand mentor Vern Cotter who finished his term in charge earlier this year.
Guscott suggested Scotland’s pulsating 44-38 win over Samoa last weekend was a sign of things to come as Townsend’s team came out on top in an 11-try thriller.
‘‘I’ve seen and heard people moaning that Scotland’s defence is a bit porous. But I think Scotland are in a better place than people might think, because they’re doing what is harder in rugby and that is scoring tries,’’ Guscott wrote in his latest piece for the BBC.
Guscott was sure that, despite Samoa staying in the game, the Scots never really felt they would lose the test in Edinburgh.
‘‘I remember Gregor Townsend, the new Scotland coach, as a player. I played with him on the 1997 Lions tour and also against him for our countries and the scoreline very much reflects him as a player. His mentality is ‘if you score four, I’m going to score five’,’’ Guscott continued.
‘‘They’ve got one of the best coaches in the world, someone who transformed Glasgow into a tryscoring team, and it looks like he’s doing the same now with Scotland.
‘‘They’ve got the All Blacks this weekend and he’ll be saying: ‘you’re not expected to beat New Zealand, go out and prove people wrong. Let’s give them the game of their lives and the game they weren’t expecting’.’’
Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks with New Zealand winning 28 and drawing two of their 30 tests.