The 5 big Scotland calls by Gregor Townsend in bid to beat the All Blacks

A victory over New Zealand on Saturday would be the very best way to dispel such talk and the head coach spoke optimistically on Thursday about matching the All Blacks.

He has selected a team which he believes can deliver the required physicality but they will have to do it without Zander Fagerson, their front-row titan. The knee injury that threatened to overshadow the build-up to this game is still not fully healed, opening the door for D’arcy Rae to continue as tighthead prop in what will be only his second start for Scotland.

Townsend has backed Rae to the hilt but the scrum must be a concern for the coach. Nevertheless, he has talked up his pack’s credentials after selecting an all-Edinburgh front row, an all-Glasgow back row and one from each club in the middle.

“We've shown we can be physical against the best packs in the world,” said Townsend. “It's the effort and the physicality that unlocks the other things.”

Here are the five big calls made by Townsend in his team to take on the All Blacks:

Rae of hope

Throwing in Zander Fagerson against New Zealand for his first game in seven months always felt like a step too far and so it proved. With games to follow against Argentina and Tonga, Townsend is still hopeful the prop will play a part in the autumn series. But, for now, Rae holds the reins at tighthead and he will have Edinburgh team-mates Ewan Ashman and Pierre Schoeman alongside him.

“I think D’arcy is someone who adapts really well to what you want from him,” said Townsend. “The scrum has gone well for him this year, and that cohesion with Ewan and Pierre, I think that will really help him as he's playing in this game.”

Rae has been around the scene a long time but made only his first Scotland start last week, at the age of 30.

“I think props take time to get through into their peak years,” added Townsend.

Brown ‘one of the best in the world’

It’s an all-Glasgow back row but one notable Warrior is missing. Rory Darge is considered fit enough only for the bench as he returns from the knee injury he sustained against the Sharks on the opening day of the URC season six weeks ago.

His absence sees Matt Fagerson move to openside and opens the door for Gregor Brown to start at six for only the third time in his Scotland career and for the first time since the 2024 summer tour.

Brown played in the second row against France in Paris in last season’s Six Nations and acquitted himself very well but seems more at home in the back row while continuing to offer a strong lineout presence.

“I think he's shown this year at Glasgow that when he's at six, he's involved more in the open play,” said Townsend. “He's a very good ball carrier. I think he's one of the best in the world at timing of a pass, a release pass or a tip pass.”

Why Steyn got the nod

“The game has gone aerial,” said Townsend, referencing the law change which favours the attacking team when they are contesting the ball in the air. The ‘escorting’ players who try to block the path of the attacking chasers are now penalised and, by Townsend’s reckoning, that means “four out of the five balls that go up are won by the attacking team now”.

Kyle Steyn is excellent in the air and that could be a huge asset against the All Blacks, both in defence and attack. It is an area in which he outperforms Duhan van der Merwe, whose place he has taken this week, and one which has become increasingly important in shaping the outcome of matches. “That's a game within a game that we've got to win,” stressed Townsend.

Saint Hutchinson is anointed

Rory Hutchinson wasn’t named in Townsend’s original summer squad but now finds himself in the coach’s starting XV to face New Zealand. The centre did eventually receive a call up for the Pacific tour and impressed the coach, particularly in the opening (non-cap) game against the Māori All Blacks.

Saturday’s game will be a significant step up but Townsend has been impressed with his form for Northampton Saints and the improvements he has made to his game. In the absence of the injured Huw Jones, he now has the opportunity to partner Sione Tuipulotu in the centre.

"I think his work-rate off the ball has improved a lot,” said Townsend. “On the ball, I think he's one of the best players around, in the northern or southern hemisphere, so it's how he gets on the ball more.

"His defence has improved the last two or three years a fair amount, but this year, he's gone to another level.”

Townsend said Hutchinson had been playing rugby of Test-match standard for his club and referenced one game in particular, against Gloucester. “Rory got man of the match and I think he had two or three try assists, a try-saving tackle, defended very well. He backed that up the following week. That's when we were convinced that he's going to be ready for this opportunity.”

The return of Blair Kinghorn

The Toulouse man returns to the Scotland full-back role as a fully-fledged Test Lion and with another Top 14 winners’ medal in his pocket.

His rise has been stratospheric since he left Edinburgh for France two years ago but he has been playing virtually non-stop. The French domestic season did not end until June 28 and, after helping Toulouse defeat Bordeaux Bègles after extra time in the Top 14 final in Paris, Kinghorn headed straight to Australia to join up with the Lions.

After clinching the series against the Wallabies there was time for only a short break before he was lining up again for Toulouse.

“He'll admit he did find it challenging to go straight back in after such a long season and after the Lions tour,” said Townsend.

“His club had lost a couple of games as well, but the last few weeks he's looked really good. He's enjoying his rugby. He's played ten, I think, in one of his recent games [a defeat by Pau], so he's getting involved heavily. Goal-kicking very well.

“He trained last week with us, even though he was going back to Toulouse at the weekend. He's trained well this week. I think a change of scene sometimes re-energises you.”