Vern Cotter has kept the starting XV who beat Argentina for Scotland’s Test with New Zealand at Murrayfield. Scotland registered an encouraging 41-31 win over the Pumas in Cotter’s home debut as coach and he will be hoping for more of the same when they take on his world champion compatriots.
Greig Laidlaw, the man of the match against Argentina, will again captain the side from scrum-half on Saturday. The New Zealand-born pair Sean Maitland and Blair Cowan come up against the All Blacks for the first time.
Cotter has made four changes to the bench, with the Glasgow forwards Fraser Brown (hooker) and Tim Swinson (lock) replacing Scott Lawson and Jim Hamilton, who spent just four minutes on the pitch against Argentina before being sent to the sin-bin. Johnnie Beattie and Chris Cusiter come in for Alasdair Strokosch and the injured Henry Pyrgos (head knock).
Cotter said: “Last weekend we had the ball and looked dangerous, and showed great character to keep faith and confidence in our attacking philosophy. I really enjoyed watching the players play for each other against Argentina. They picked themselves up time and time again, and encouraged each other to keep on working for our collective cause. It was fantastic to see, as was our ability to get over the line and score tries, all of which contributed to a strong case for re-selection.
“We showed last weekend that we’re developing an attack than can cause opposition teams problems. If we can force the All Blacks into making errors then we can give ourselves a chance.
“In saying that, the All Blacks are the world’s best at exposing errors so we’ll also have to be absolutely clinical in both our decision-making and execution if we are to go one better than the 1983 team that drew with New Zealand here at Murrayfield.”
Scotland team to play New Zealand
S Hogg (Glasgow); S Maitland (Glasgow), M Bennett (Glasgow), A Dunbar (Glasgow), T Seymour (Glasgow) F Russell (Glasgow), G Laidlaw (Gloucester, capt); A Dickinson (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Glasgow), R Gray (Castres), J Gray (Glasgow), R Harley (Glasgow), B Cowan (London Irish), A Ashe (Glasgow). Replacements F Brown (Glasgow), G Reid (Glasgow), G Cross (London Irish), T Swinson (Glasgow ), J Beattie (Castres), C Cusiter (Sale), D Weir (Glasgow), S Lamont (Glasgow).
