Assistant coach Mike Blair encourages Scotland to embrace All Blacks challenge at Murrayfield

Assistant coach Mike Blair is looking forward to the opportunity for Scotland to test themselves against the best in the world when they host the All Blacks on Sunday morning (NZ time). 

Scotland are without 13 players due to injury or suspension, including captain Greig Laidlaw, and will be facing a near-full strength All Blacks side at Murrayfield in front of a sell-out crowd.

It will be the first time the two nations have squared off since 2014, where the All Blacks won 24-16, but plenty has changed since that match.

The Scots are currently ranked sixth in the world and have not lost at home in over a year. With morale high in the Scottish camp, Blair believes this is a great opportunity to identify how far they come.

"It's great for Scottish rugby and great for the players going out there to play against the best team and a lot of the best individuals in the world," the former Scotland international said.

"It's great for our crowd to see them but it's a fantastic opportunity for us to mark ourselves up against them and see where exactly we are.

"We've had some fantastic results we beat Australia in the summer  but we're chuffed to bits with the team they've put out.

"This is obviously one of the biggest games of the year playing the no.1 ranked team in the world at home, sell out crowd. It is going to be a big one." 

Sunday's (NZ time) match will be the 31st time in 112 years the two sides have faced each other.

Scotland has never beaten the All Blacks, but have drawn against the World Champions twice, in 1964 and 1983.

If they are to create history in Edinburgh, they will need first-five Finn Russell to hold his own against his opposite Beauden Barrett.

Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg.
Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg. Photo credit: Getty Images

Blair said Russell, who will be guiding an all-Glasgow backline around the park, will relish the opportunity to test himself against the reigning World Rugby player of the year.

"Finn Russell loves the challenge. This is a great opportunity for him to put himself up against one of the best 10s in the world and see how he goes. I expect him to rise to that."

Scotland is coming off an unconvincing 44-38 win over Samoa last weekend, where they nearly blew a 22-point lead.

Blair knows they can't let that happen again, especially against the All Blacks, so they have been working on little aspects of their game during the week to prevent it happening again.

"We were pleased with some of the aspects of our play (last week) but to play against New Zealand you will need to lift your performance anyway, and we as a group are aware that we have to play to the best of our ability to be in with a chance of winning test matches whoever you play against.

"There's been a step up in focus and there will need to be a step up in performance as well.

"If New Zealand play well, we will struggle to beat them so we have to shut down what they are doing and if we do that it will put us in a good position."

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