All Blacks v Scotland: What you need to know

Scotland v All Blacks

Kickoff: 4.10am

Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Live blog updates on RNZ Sport

Murrayfield, the home of Scottish rugby, celebrates its 100th birthday this weekend and the home side are aiming to create a bit of history.

Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks and come into this test off a big win last weekend over the USA, but their Six Nations form, and tour of NZ and the Pacific in July are probably more of an indicator of where they're at.

New Zealand started their four-test, end-of-year tour with an ultimately comfortable, but often scrappy win over Ireland last weekend.

Team lists

Scotland: 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. D'Arcy Rae, 4. Scott Cummings, 5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Gregor Brown, 7. Matt Fagerson, 8. Jack Dempsey, 9. Ben White, 10. Finn Russell, 11. Kyle Steyn, 12. Sione Tuipulotu (c), 13. Rory Hutchinson, 14. Darcy Graham, 15. Blair Kinghorn

Bench: 16. George Turner, 17. Rory Sutherland, 18. Elliot Millar Mills, 19. Marshall Sykes, 20. Rory Darge, 21. Josh Bayliss, 22. Jamie Dobie, 23. Tom Jordan

All Blacks: 1. Ethan de Groot, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Fletcher Newell, 4. Josh Lord, 5. Fabian Holland, 6. Wallace Sititi, 7. Ardie Savea (c), 8. Peter Lakai, 9. Cam Roigard, 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Caleb Clarke, 12. Quinn Tupaea, 13. Leicester Fainga'anuku, 14. Leroy Carter, 15. Will Jordan

Bench: 16. Samisoni Taukei'aho, 17. Tamaiti Williams, 18. Pasilio Tosi, 19. Sam Darry, 20. Du'Plessis Kirifi, 21. Cortez Ratima, 22. Billy Proctor, 23. Damian McKenzie

Scotland selections

Two of Scotland's most high-profile names - Finn Russell and Blair Kinghorn - return to the starting line-up. Zander Fagerson is out with injury, which will be a big blow to the scrum, with pressure now on new man D'Arcy Rae.

The big talking point is Kyle Steyn starting on the left wing, ahead of Duhan van der Merwe, which is a bit of a surprise, with van der Merwe left out altogether, alongside former captain Jamie Ritchie.

All Black selections

Wallace Sititi fittingly gets a start in the country where he spent his early years, forming an intriguing loose forward trio with captain Ardie Savea and Peter Lakai. Josh Lord starts at lock in place of the injured Scott Barrett, while Quinn Tupaea and Leicester Fainga'anuku form a new midfield.

Sam Darry, Du'Plessis Kirifi and Billy Proctor come onto the bench.

Key stats

While Scotland have never beaten New Zealand, the last three times they've played have all been close affairs. Scotland have had the advantage of playing at Murrayfield for the last nine encounters, which stretch back over the last 25 years.

Andrew Mehrtens holds the All Blacks pointscoring record against Scotland, with 108 in seven tests. Jonah Lomu and Tana Umaga share the tryscoring record with seven each.

Grant Fox scored the only try of his test career against Scotland at Carisbrook in 1990 in a 31-16 All Black win.

What they're saying

"They're a form side, they're a cohesive side. They've picked, I believe, the strongest team available to them.

"We're playing the No.2 team in the world. We've just got to deliver close to our best performance this weekend." - Scotland coach Gregor Townsend

"We know two teams will be up for it. There's two really clear and inspiring reasons for getting the result for both teams - the white jersey and the poppy, representing the people who have served us before.

"We've reflected on that, we thought it was a great chance during the week to remember them." - All Blacks coach Scott Robertson

Last time they met

All Blacks 31 Scotland 23

After a good start that saw the All Blacks score two tries in seven minutes, Scotland came roaring back to lead 23-14 in the second half.

The home crowd could sense history was about to be made, but with 20 minutes to go, New Zealand clicked into gear, with Scott Barrett and Mark Tele'a scoring, while Scotland had a man in the bin, to close out a high-quality test match.

What's going to happen

The All Blacks scrum was a key part of their win last weekend and will likely feature heavily again, as the front-row match-up is heavily in their favour.

However, if Scotland can get off to a good start, all bets are off, as they have the brilliance of Russell and power of Tuipulotu to count on.

Those two were part of a successful Lions tour earlier this season, so will come in confident, but once again, Scotland's biggest enemies may be their own mindset that's tripped them up before, when victory was in their grasp.

The All Blacks will likely look to utilise Fainga'anuku's offloading ability alongside Tupaea's hard running in the midfield, with the nicely balanced back three of Clarke, Carter and Jordan ready to take advantage.

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