'Fully loaded' All Blacks out to preserve Scotland record

Mike Blair says New Zealand are motivated by their undefeated record against the Scots going into their Murrayfield meeting. New Zealand assistant Mike Blair says the All Blacks will come to Murrayfield "fully loaded" as they seek to preserve their unbeaten record against Scotland on Saturday. With recent meetings between the sides decided by single-digit margins, Blair says there is a respect for the threat the Scots will pose in the Nations Championship meeting. "When I played, New Zealand played their second-string team. They gave guys opportunity against us," he said. "Times have changed from that. We're fully loaded. We're ready to go." In 33 attempts and 121 years of trying, Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks, and as desperate as they are to end that barren run, New Zealand are just as keen to protect their unblemished record.

"It's really important," said Blair, who played 85 times for Scotland and was head coach of Edinburgh from 2021 to 2023. "We've got a couple of long-standing records. The Eden Park record [the All Blacks have not lost a Test there since 1994], 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