Scots scramble to plug gaps for All Blacks visit

land possibly “subconsciously relaxed” after they went 30-10 ahead and hopes the subsequent scare banishes any remnants of complacency ahead of the visit of the All Blacks, who won 38-18 in France at the weekend.

“People probably don’t give Samoa the credit in terms of their individual brilliance and how powerful athletes they are,” Taylor said.

“I would rather be going into this game a wee bit worried rather than overconfident.

“Certainly, we know we have to lift the intensity and be a lot better defensively because it’s not good enough. We have talked about it and a few of the leaders spoke about it in the forwards’ meeting, so hopefully we get a reaction.”

Scotland had already lost the likes of Alasdair Dickinson, Gordon Reid, Allan Dell, Fraser Brown and Ross Ford from their front row before Nel’s injury but Taylor refused to use the casualty list as an excuse.

Newcastle prop Jon Welsh, whose 11th and most recent cap came in the 2015 World Cup, was added to the squad, where he will compete for a place along with the likes of fellow loosehead Darryl Marfo.

Marfo arrived at Edinburgh in January as backup but was catapulted to a Scotland debut after a succession of injuries.

The 27-year-old is relishing the prospect of facing the world champions.

“It’s massively exciting,” said the Londoner, whose mother comes from Ayr. “When you get the opportunity to face the best team in the world, I have never had that experience before and hopefully this weekend I do.

TALL ORDER: Gregor Townsend, left, and Matt Taylor talk shop ahead of the Test against New Zealand on Saturday