“Scotland have been together for a long time,” Ryan said. “Their playing group are pretty established, their coaching group pretty established.
“Last year, we got off to a good start and then [conceded] three yellow cards and that let them back in the game.
“They can play on top of you, they can use the ball really, well with width and they can get momentum quick. So I think our defensive efforts will be important this week.”
Ryan said the All Blacks intend to name their strongest side as they look to build consistency and combinations towards finishing the season on a high.
First five-eighths Richie Mo’unga and loose forward Ethan Blackadder are the only players not fit and won’t be ready to go.
Damian McKenzie’s stunning try helped the All Blacks claim a 25-17 win over Scotland in their last meeting. Photo / Smartframe
“I think we need to probably get a bit of consistency with combinations and I think we saw that in the second test in the Bledisloe,” Ryan said.
“We had guys that had back-to-back tests in some key areas and then we selected, gave a few other guys an opportunity.
“We will pick our definitely our strongest side this week against Scotland. We’re going to need to and we’re going to have to be at our absolute best to win.”
Victory is vital for both sides as they seek further wins in the Nations Championship.
Both teams sit second in their respective Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere standings.
While the All Blacks are coming off back-to-back wins over the Wallabies, Ryan is wary conditions in the Northern Hemisphere will make things more challenging.
“I think we made some good shifts from a couple of lessons that we had in South Africa,” he said. “We tidied up a couple of areas around probably our maul D [defence] and we’re pretty satisfied with how our ball-carrying clean[out] went using our footwork at the line.
“As we come to Europe, we know that the conditions are a little bit different over here potentially with the colder weather, so not forcing offloads if they aren’t there, the 50-50s that probably would stick in the games where we’ve had the sun at our backs for all of our test matches.
“Although we want to still get the boys to play with skill and offload in the tackle, we just got to make sure we get the balance right there.”
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.