108 matches 96 wins 2 World Cups 2,924 days at the top... All Blacks ARE the ultimate test
Numbers that lay bare size of task facing Townsend at Murrayfield
DURING his playing days, Gregor Townsend always saw taking on the All Blacks as the greatest of all challenges. As he prepares to go into his first match against them as Scotland head coach, nothing has changed.
‘They are as strong as they ever were,’ said Townsend, who has played — and lost — against them on six occasions. ‘I always knew it was the ultimate test playing them, so the focus went up a few notches.
‘It’s the biggest challenge that any country, any player, faces in rugby — to play the best rugby team. And it’s one our players will relish on Saturday.’
The Scots will, however, be without t wo of t heir most influential players in Willem Nel and Ryan Wilson when they do take the field against the world champions.
As selections go, it’s not the most battle-hardened first XV that has walked out at Murrayfield. There are only 316 caps between the men Townsend has selected, with 190 of them shared among the four most experienced players: Stuart Hogg (54), Tommy Seymour (37), Jonny Gray (35) and John Barclay (64). The All Blacks, meanwhile, total 574.
However, rather than bemoan his lot, Townsend insists his side can rise to the occasion.
‘Yes, it is a huge challenge, but a huge opportunity,’ he said. ‘They’ve been the No 1-ranked team for eight years. Not many nations or clubs can do that in any sport, so you know it’s the ultimate test.
‘You’ve got to get the focus, the best out of yourself and your team-mates and view it as an opportunity.
‘We don’t play New Zealand very often and we’ve not been in New Zealand on tour for 17 years, which is a real shame.
‘We used to tour there every five or six years. Now we’ve got an opportunity at home in front of 67,000 to give our best and put pressure on them for 80 minutes.’
Townsend, who was i n the Scotland team that lost 69-20 and 48-14 the last time they toured New Zealand in 2000, felt there was still respect despite such dreadful previous results against the all-conquering Kiwis.
‘ If they do announce their strongest team to play us, that shows that they view us as a very competitive side that they have to play their best to beat,’ he said, with t he new World Rugby calendar due to be rolled out in 2020 set to include a Scotland tour to New Zealand.
‘ It i s disappointing that we haven’t been to New Zealand for such a long while, but that was the previous agreement on tours and we missed out on going there. I do believe that will change in the next few years. I’d like to hope that we’ll be back out there within the next two or three seasons because it is a great environment to test yourself, to learn from.
‘A number of our players who are playing on Saturday have had experiences in New Zealand. Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Finn Russell have all been out there for three or four months and came back better players for that experience.’
For all of Townsend’s positive talk, many believe it will be a case of damage limitation against the All Blacks.
I ndeed, outspoken f ormer Scotland l ock Jim Hamilton believes that unless there is a marked improvement from the win over Samoa, they could take 80 points off Townsend’s team.
‘Jim has an opinion,’ said Townsend. ‘We realise if we don’t play well, if we don’t defend well, then New Zealand are going to score points. Last week, they were very impressive against France in the rain. They scored 30 points by half-time. We want to learn from the Samoa game. Fix the things that did not work.
‘We do feel there was a different context. This week, we are very aware of the threats New Zealand pose.’
For the Scots to have a chance, No 8 Cornell Du Perez — who will be making his f i rst start f or Scotland in his third appearance — will have to try to nullify the world- class All Blacks skipper Kieran Read.
He is one of two injury-enforced changes to Townsend’s starting team, with Zander Fagerson replacing Nel at tighthead prop.
‘ Cornell is a good, all- round player who has lovely linking skills,’ continued the Scotland boss. ‘You saw that last week when he caught a ball off his toes and gave it to Stuart Hogg on the outside and then later put Peter Horne in for a try.
‘So there’s more to ball-carrying than just running straight and Cornell brings that. We need him to make the right decisions in attack, too.
‘He has also defended really aggressively this year and really stepped up in that area and we’ll need that against New Zealand.
‘Zander has a lot of work to do outside the ball carrying. He is an excellent defender. His performance in Sydney against Australia when he got off the line defence was very good.
‘We will need the scrum side of it to function well. If he can carry the ball, six to ten times, then that is a good thing.
‘It means we are retaining ball if our tighthead props are getting so many carries. He is a tough man to stop and should give us go forward against the All Blacks.’
Townsend needs to get the best out of his more experienced players such as captain Barclay, vice-captain Hogg and, in particular, fly-half Finn Russell.
Russell is the man with the X-factor, the man who can catch the All Blacks out. His flair wasn’t much on show against Samoa aside from a few grubber kicks, one of which set up a try for Hogg.
‘As a team, we weren’t too happy with our performance (against Samoa)’, said Townsend. ‘There were some aspects we did well and Finn was a part of those aspects — a big part of it.
‘He drives our attack and I think, like the coaches, it wasn’t where we expected it to be with that performance. Everybody’s been working hard this week to make sure we play better.’