All Blacks will unleash top guns at Murrayfield

NEW ZEALAND head coach Steve Hansen last night named his strongest possible side for Murrayfield out of respect to ‘the lovely wee gem’ of a rugby team that Scotland is becoming. The World Cup-winning coach said he never had any intention of taking a gamble in terms of team selection after his side were given a fright the last time they visited Edinburgh. Three years ago, his understrength team scraped home to a 24-16 win, with the game only made safe by a try nine minutes from time. Hansen has named nine All Blacks in his XV that started the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in the summer. On that occasion at Eden Park, they played

the Lions off the park, winning 30-15.

‘Last time we rolled the dice a bit but this time we haven’t,’ said Hansen. ‘ Look, Vern Cotter did a really good job with Scotland and now Gregor Townsend is adding his touch.

‘Gregor will come in and polish the rough edges and make it into a lovely wee gem, I should imagine.’

Hansen also said he was surprised at the lack of Scots in the Lions squad during the summer and he expected them to make up for that snub by rising to the occasion against them.

‘It surprised me at the time and it still surprises me a little bit,’ he admitted.

‘It showed the quality of the Lions team itself, which was probably one of the best Lions sides to come out.

‘There’s always going to be people who miss out. On this occasion it was just unlucky that it was the Scottish boys that missed out but there are certainly some quality footballers there.’

Hansen singled out Stuart Hogg as someone who they would be keeping a cl ose eye on at Murrayfield.

‘He’s good enough to be in the Lions side, so he’s a good player,’ he said. ‘Look, there are no mugs t hat play international rugby regardless of what team it is.’

The Kiwi boss said he didn’t think Scotland would be as easy to break d o wn up front as they were against Samoa. Last weekend, t he South Sea Islanders scored three close-in tries far too easily.

‘ We saw that but I’m sure Scottish coaches did too,’ he said. ‘ Those opportunities might not be there this week. We might have to find them somewhere else.’

Among those who will run out the tunnel at Murrayfield will be 94-times-capped second row Sam Whitelock, with 108-times- capped captain Kieran Read at No 8. At nine and ten are the world-class duo of Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett. On the wing is 20-year-old Rieko Ioane, who is being tipped as the next All Blacks superstar. And at 12 there i s the class act that is Sonny Bill Williams. The centre (below) remembers Murrayfield f ondly as he won his second cap there after making his debut in a win over England at Twickenham. ‘I have really good memories,’ said the flamboyant star, who famously gave away his World Cup winners’ medal to a young boy. ‘At Murrayfield, it feels like the crowd is on the field sometimes, so I guess we have to start hard and fast early to nullify that. Once the crowd gets involved it can be pretty tough and we don’t want to put ourselves in that position.’ The 32-year- old said Scotland’s win over Australia in the summer served as a warning to his team that they had to guard against complacency. ‘It was a big result for them and has not gone unnoticed,’ said Williams. ‘It has really put us on the edge of our seats in our preparation knowing that they can knock off the big boys. ‘We are ready to play but know we have a massive challenge as they have some very dangerous players i n their squad. The flavour of footy they are playing j us t now is great t o see and great for world rugby. ‘We know we have to be on our game to compete with t hese guys. We have to leave no stone unturned in our preparation. That i s how we are going about it.’