Just 14 of the 46 players return from the last time these sides met in 2017 – 7 for each side. Beauden Barrett and Sam Whitelock are the only returning starters for New Zealand. The Scots call on Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell, Ali Price, Zander Fagerson and Hamish Watson to start again while Grant Gilchrist and Jonny Gray have swapped places from that previous match.
Tale of the tape
BACKS
67 Tries 88
95kg Average weight 95kg
311 Total caps 263
28.7 Average age 27.2
FORWARDS
921kg Pack weight 898kg
22 Tries 49
359 Total caps 377
29.5 Average age 28.2
SUBSTITUTES
218 Total caps 276
29 Tries 73
28.3 Average age 27.3
3 Scotland changes from last Test (v Fiji)
- 12 – Tuipulotu for Redpath [=]
- 10 – Russell for Hastings [+]
- 2 – Brown for Turner [-]
Head to heads
SCOTLAND
15 Hogg
14 Graham
13 Harris
12 Tuipulotu
11 vd Merwe
10 Russell
9 Price
1 Schoeman
2 Brown
3 Z. Fagerson
4 R. Gray
5 Gilchrist
6 Ritchie (c)
7 Watson
8 M. Fagerson
16 Ashman
17 Sutherland
18 Nel
19 J. Gray
20 Dempsey
21 White
22 Kinghorn
23 Bennett
HEAD-TO-HEAD
EVEN
ADV Scotland
ADV NZ
ADV NZ
ADV Scotland
EVEN
ADV Scotland
ADV Scotland
ADV NZ
ADV NZ
ADV NZ
ADV NZ
ADV Scotland
ADV NZ
ADV NZ
ADV NZ
ADV Scotland
EVEN
ADV Scotland
EVEN
ADV NZ
EVEN
ADV NZ
NEW ZEALAND
J. Barrett 15
Telea 14
Lienert-Brown 13
Havili 12
Clarke 11
B. Barrett 10
Christie 9
De Groot 1
Taukei’aho 2
Laulala 3
Whitelock (c) 4
S. Barrett 5
A. Ioane 6
Papali’i 7
Savea 8
Taylor 16
Bower 17
Newell 18
Vaa’i 19
Frizell 20
Perenara 21
Perofeta 22
R. Ioane 23
Overall
Backs – advantage Scotland
Having already had to face one of the most Scottish sounding players ever this Autumn, in the shape of Australia’s Jock Campbell, Scotland now find themselves taking on one of the most Scottish looking players ever – New Zealand’s Finlay Christie. In an alternative universe somewhere, the scrum half who originally hails from Peebles is pulling on the dark blue shirt for this match instead and adding some gingerism to a squad which is a bit lacking in this regard.
Forwards – advantage New Zealand
While the All Blacks’ backline has, if anything, a bit of a mix and match look to it, the pack is all power. As part 1 of the preview pointed out, this was where New Zealand’s previous game against Wales was won and lost. Scotland’s forwards have to find a way to break free of the visitors’ stifling defence and contain the Kiwis’ attack. The Welsh got monstered. Can the dark blues do better?
Subs – advantage New Zealand
While there is plenty of dynamism on the bench for Scotland, they may feel that a more setpiece based game is a less risky approach. Slowing things down might be the antithesis of the normal Scottish way but could reduce opportunities for the All Blacks to disrupt and attack an unstructured defence. The only slight problem with that is that New Zealand are also masters of striking off first phase!
Miscellany
– Ali Price has been selected for all 32 Test matches he has been eligible for since the 2019 RWC (29 for Scotland and 3 for the Lions) starting 29 of them.
– By contrast his old flatmate, Finn Russell, has been picked for 16 of those games, starting 13 of them.
– This will be the 51st time that the Price / Russell combination has started a match together at 9 and 10. In all they have played at least some part of 79 games in combination in the half backs.
– The starting lineup boasts a total of 670 Scotland caps, making this the most experienced XV selected by Gregor Townsend in any of his 60 matches in charge. The 888 caps among the starting 23 are also a record for this era.
– Fraser Brown will start at hooker for Scotland for the first time in nearly two years (since 5th December 2020). Brown and Stuart McInally started 33 out of 37 Tests between November 2017 and December 2020. Since then the hooking duo had only started 3 out of 20 internationals until this weekend.
– Supersub WP Nel has been a replacement for 14 of his last 17 caps.