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Find your Sport Nation frequencyAll Blacks 'fully loaded' for Scotland's Nations Championship challenge
Henry Lee in Edinburgh • November 4th, 2026 7:16 am
All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard celebrates his try | Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
33 and counting. Sometimes teams shy away from records, hoodoos and unprecedented feats, but the All Blacks are taking their 120-year unbeaten streak against Scotland head-on.
All Blacks assistant coach Mike Blair, who made 84-Test appearances for Scotland before going on to be an assistant between 2017 and 2021, knows all too well what it's like to be part of a Scotland team that has fallen short against the Kiwis.
But now on the other side of the ledger, wearing the silver fern on his chest, Dave Rennie’s Scottish-born attack coach is among those ensuring the All Blacks go into Saturday’s (local time) Nations Championship battle without fear of letting that record slip.
Talking to reporters on a soggy Edinburgh morning, Blair admitted the All Blacks have used the long-standing record as motivation.
"It's really important,” the All Blacks assistant said.
"When I played, New Zealand played their second-string team. They gave guys opportunity against us (Scotland).
"Times have changed from that. We're fully loaded. We're ready to go.
"We've got a couple of long-standing records. The Eden Park record, every time we play there, there's an extra edge to it because you don't want to be the team that loses that record. It's definitely a huge motivation.
"We're really proud of that record (against Scotland). We know over the last four matches it's been close, so it's going to be a tough contest for sure."
Cam Roigard takes on Scotland's defence at Murrayfield | Photo: Paul Thomas/Photosport
Among many selection pressure points during Rennie’s tenure, first-five has often topped the list, but with a growing injury list Damian McKenzie has stepped up to the plate.
McKenzie’s performances across the two Bledisloe Cup Tests at first-five were excellent, and seemed to combine well with 147-Test playmaker Beauden Barrett at fullback.
Blair believes that their strong combination provides the All Blacks with a multitude of options in attack, no matter which playmaker is at first receiver.
“Yeah, so our selections, probably since July, have shown the 10 and 15 are players who are able to play-make, and I think Damian and Beauden have done that really well,” Blair said in Edinburgh on Wednesday (NZ time).
“They’ve played a lot of Test matches together. Been in a lot of squads together, and their ability to switch in and out of a first receiver and play-make from different areas is really key to our attack.”
Even with slightly different conditions expected in Edinburgh compared to those at Eden Park and Accor Stadium, the All Blacks assistant said they intend on continuing to keep the ball in hand.
“Yeah, we’ve had a little look at the forecast. It looks like there’s a small chance of rain. I think both Scotland and New Zealand would like a dry ball.
“But the way we’re trying to evolve our game, there’s obviously game management within it, using our kick and game to create pressure and unstructured defences, but we also believe we’ve got a skill set that can manipulate defence with the ball in hand, even if the weather’s not great.”
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The former Scotland halfback said they are well aware of Gregor Townsend’s side’s quality, and that recent matchups have been tight.
“We’re also aware that playing at Scotland at Murrayfield is a really big challenge. We talked this morning about the tightness of the games.
“The last four games have all been within eight points, so these games mean really competitive. It’s another good opportunity to show the growth in our game.
“We’ve been together four and a half months. This team under Gregor has been kind of seven or eight years in the making, very cohesive; they know their game well, so it’s been a big challenge for us.”
Kick-off for All Blacks vs Scotland is Sunday 3.10am NZT.
