Jason Ryan outlines All Blacks' selection priorities against Scotland

The All Blacks say they are hoping to embed the improvements they’ve made in 2026 and fortify some combinations over the coming weeks of the Nations Championship.

First up on New Zealand’s November schedule is a date with Scotland at Murrayfield, a fixture they’ve never lost. But that unbeaten run won’t count for much once the national anthems conclude in Edinburgh, and All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan knows it.

Unfortunately for the Kiwis, two players will miss the Test, with Richie Mo’unga and Ethan Blackadder still recovering from injuries. It was previously confirmed that a dozen of the team’s frequent selections will miss the tour entirely due to injuries, including captain Ardie Savea, leaving selectors with a new puzzle to solve each week.

“Well, I think we probably need to get a bit of consistency with combinations, and I think that we probably saw that in the second Bledisloe Test,” Ryan told reporters on Monday. “Though we had guys play back-to-back Tests in some key areas, we gave a few other guys an opportunity.

“But I think we will definitely pick 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.”

Scotland’s July block of the Nations Championship saw them beat Argentina and Fiji but lose ot South Africa, leaving them second on the North table thanks to bonus points in each contest.

Ryan says Gregor Townsend’s side pushed New Zealand until the very last minute in their last meeting, with the learnings from that Test still fresh in his mind.

“Scotland have been together for a long time, I think probably six or seven years now. Their playing group are pretty established, and their coaching group is pretty established,” he said.

“I think last year we got off to a good start, and I think we got two or three yellow cards and that let them back into the game. They can play on top of you. They can use the ball really, really well with width, and they can get momentum pretty quick. So, I think our defensive efforts will be really important this week.”

The forwards coach is the only member of the current coaching staff who was involved in last year’s Test, although new head coach Dave Rennie has coached against Scotland in his time with the Wallabies, lead assistant Neil Barnes is familiar with the Scots from his time with Italy, and attack coach Mike Blair is most familiar of all with this week’s opponents, having represented them 85 times during his playing career.

The coaches also know they can’t afford to repeat the mistakes made during their 3-1 series defeat to the Springboks earlier in the season, and Ryan has seen some positive signs in the two Tests since that suggest it shouldn’t be an issue.

“I think we made some good shifts from, I guess, a couple of lessons that we had in South Africa,” he said. “We tidied up a couple of areas around our maul D, and we’re pretty satisfied with how our ball carry and clean 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. Although we still want to get the boys to play with skill and offload in the tackle, we just have to make sure we get the balance right there.”