Rugbyunion: CaptainBarclayurgesScotstoimposethemselvesonAllBlacks

Scotland captain John Barclay will be doing his utmost to ignore the hype surrounding New Zealand this week.

The All Blacks travel to Edinburgh to face Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, three years since the two sides last met.

Steve Hansen’s two-time reigning World Cup winners have dominated the sport for the last decade and it will be a daunting test for Gregor Townsend’s side after conceding five tries in a thrilling 44-38 win against Samoa in Edinburgh at the weekend.

However, Barclay, who lasted an hour of the win, is keen for his team-mates not to get caught up in the hype surrounding the All Blacks and insisted the game takes on no extra significance.

“It’s inspiring to play at Murrayfield,” he said. “There’s probably something

“Can’tsitback andwatchthem, wehavetoplay withanintent”

wrong if you need to take inspiration from the opposition.

“If we sit back and are in awe of them, then there’s something quite drastically wrong with our mindset.

“We need to focus on ourselves as much as we can and try to impose ourselves.”

He added: “There are a lot of questions about the All Blacks but, for me, it’s about the honour of playing and captaining my country, and what that means to me.

“We have to do a bit of homework but if we sit back and talk about them and how fantastic they are, we have no chance.”

History will certainly be against Scotland on Saturday evening as they attempt to break their long-standing duck against