{"id":241955,"date":"2025-11-03T20:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T20:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/241955\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T20:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T20:04:10","slug":"weve-canvassed-it-with-the-boys-were-all-aware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/241955\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We’ve canvassed it with the boys… we’re all aware’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scott Robertson is expecting a \u201cgame for the ages\u201d on Saturday as New Zealand<\/a> aim to preserve a 120-year unbeaten record against Scotland<\/a> and take a second step towards a possible \u2018Grand Slam\u2019 at Murrayfield.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks<\/a> head coach said his squad were \u201cproud\u201d of their dominance against the Scots, having won 30 and drawn two of their 32 previous meetings since 1905.<\/p>\n

But recent contests at Murrayfield have proved highly competitive affairs, with New Zealand winning by eight points in 2014, five in 2017 and eight again in 2022, when they needed a final-quarter comeback from 23-14 down to prevail 31-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know how big the occasion is this weekend,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve canvassed it with the boys to make sure we\u2019re all aware [of the record]. There\u2019s been a hell of a few games in the last few years, haven\u2019t there?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s come down to the wire, so full respect. We\u2019re playing against a Scottish team with eight [originally selected] Lions<\/a> in it, and, you know, there are some generational players there, so it\u2019s going to be a game for the ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Scotland <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New Zealand <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Having lost two Barrett brothers, captain Scott and centre Jordie, to injuries sustained in Saturday\u2019s 26-13 win over Ireland<\/a> in Chicago, Robertson is likely to keep further changes to a minimum in what he said would be a \u201ca fully respectful team to beat the Scottish\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a quality team, we understand that, we know their strengths, and they\u2019ll know ours,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got a pretty handy backline, haven\u2019t they? They\u2019ve got a couple of really good jacklers who can get over the ball, and a couple of good operators in the line-out.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they\u2019ve got a really good balance in the squad, and they\u2019re spread around a couple of teams. Also, playing in the [English] Premiership and stuff, it\u2019s a highly experienced team, and high cohesion, and really motivated. It\u2019s a big weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll pick the strongest team we think for a really physical Test match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson played in a 37-6 All Blacks victory over Scotland in Edinburgh<\/a> in 2001, a game he remembers as \u201ca hugely passionate affair\u201d. New Zealand led 15-6 with 13 minutes left before late scores from Tana Umaga<\/a>, Mark Robinson<\/a> and the late Jonah Lomu<\/a> embellished a rather flattering win.<\/p>\n

\"ScottPlayers from both side\u2019s tussle during the Gallagher Cup match between Ireland and New Zealand at Soldier Field in Chicago, USA. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy\/Sportsfile via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

But seven years earlier he forged some happy memories of Scotland in a three-month spell playing half-a-dozen games for club side Ayr as a 19-year-old, which followed a stint playing for Ulster<\/a> outfit Ards in the 1993-94 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was playing a little bit of rugby over in Northern Ireland, and Ayr were looking for a couple of reinforcements at the back end of the season,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI came over and had a great time. It was only a few months; I probably played half a dozen games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great part of my life, pretty carefree. You\u2019re scoring tries under the Robbie Burns statue [in Ayr] there, and everyone was pretty welcoming. They gave me \u00a350 if you scored a try, and they\u2019d give you the \u00a350, but you pretty much gave it straight back over the bar. It was well done, actually \u2013 they got a return on the investment!<\/p>\n

\u201cI get the odd message from a couple of the club battlers, to remind me they think they made my career! I\u2019ll tell you what, the Guinness flowed, and we had some great times. It was a really great experience, and a fond part of my life. I really enjoyed Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson remembers watching a couple of games at Murrayfield during that period and thinking, \u2018Oh, I\u2019d like to come back here one day\u2019.<\/p>\n

Having done so as a player 24 years ago, he is back in Edinburgh as head coach of an All Blacks side aiming to build on the flashes of their attacking potential they showed in the final quarter in Chicago, with three tries to put away an Ireland side who led until the 62nd minute \u2013 despite an early 20-minute red card for lock Tadhg Beirne.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe showed a lot of good attack, but actually finishing those opportunities has been a real focus for us,\u201d Robertson added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love to have got that last try as well [chalked off for a forward pass], just to show the amount of passes and connection. We had to play some footy and play fearless, and just finish a couple more opportunities, which we did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to start better, don\u2019t we? Especially when you play Test footy, you don\u2019t want to be playing catch-up. We did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found a way. We had a great bench which came on and made a really good impact. There were parts of the game that we definitely need to tidy up, but we were really pleased with how we finished.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Robertson is expecting a \u201cgame for the ages\u201d on Saturday as New Zealand aim to preserve a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-241955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}