Case for defence: Coach Taylor under no illusions of size of Murrayfield task

Defence coach Matt Taylor admits Scotland struggled to organise themselves in time for their opening autumn Test last weekend but they have little choice other than make major improvements quickly.

Gregor Townsend’s side opened its campaign with a 44-38 victory against Samoa on Saturday but Taylor has had an uneasy few days after his players conceded five tries.

Scotland host New Zealand this weekend with two more forwards ruled out.

Edinburgh prop WP Nel (arm) and Glasgow lock Tim Swinson (hand) both suffered broken bones on Saturday, while flanker Rob Harley will miss the whole autumn campaign after failing to recover from the knee injury that saw him miss the Samoa encounter.

Taylor, who left Glasgow in the summer alongside Townsend to focus on his international role, said: “We’re all pretty disappointed with how we de-

“We must lift the intensity and be a lot better defensively”

fended, particularly where over the last six months there have been games where we have defended really well, like the Australia game and the Ireland game.

“So, to let ourselves down at home was particularly disappointing.

“A few things we can put it down to: it’s the first time coming together for a long time, different guys are coming in from different systems, and I’m in a different situation this year where I’m not in control of Glasgow, so I don’t have as much time with the players.

“It’s getting them on the same page as quickly as possible. The good thing about it is we’ll be a lot better this weekend because we will need to be. Because we are under no illusions, unless we defend really well, we will come second.”

Taylor conceded Scot-