Scots will have to attack New Zealand, says Gregor Townsend

New Zealand stuttered against Australia in Hong Kong two weeks ago and had some hiccups in defeating England at Twickenham on Saturday, but there is a feeling in their camp that the travel to Hong Kong and then London did affect their performances. This week, there is a clear intent to rediscover the fluid, attack-minded rugby that took them to 15 straight wins over the past 14 months.

Townsend was famed as a player for looking for new and unorthodox ways to attack, so with him on board, Andy Robinson's desire to open up the Scottish play with a fast-paced, off-loading game was always likely to be developed. It has not brought an instant upswing in try counts, but the idea of 'risk and reward' emanating from the new law interpretation at the ruck, which has the effect of giving attacking players more time to build phases and so opening the game up, is one that Townsend has been using all his life. It could hardly be more suited to Townsend's philosophy, but he acknowledged that it had also helped this weekend's opponents return to the top of world rugby.

Disagreeing with the statement by England's defence coach Mike Ford, who said last week that he didn't view the Tri Nations as "real Test matches", in reference to the non-stop nature and the rise in tries scored to nearly six per game, Townsend said: "We loved the Tri Nations and thought the intensity from start to finish was great.

"What the attack were doing was fantastic but also the defence at contact was very intense, so they were real Test matches from our point of view. If you compare this year's Tri Nations to last year's, South Africa played a game based on strong set-piece, very good defence and excellent competing for the ball and kick-chase last year and won it, whereas this year when they kicked, New Zealand and Australia ran it and there were high points scored against South Africa, who have always had one of the best defences.

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"They know they'll have to change because you can't go from winning the Tri Nations to finishing bottom, but the All Blacks changed I believe on their tour to the northern hemisphere last year - when they played France it was an astonishing game.

At that time I thought it was the best game of rugby I'd ever seen, but it's been topped by a couple this year.

"So, yes, New Zealand know that a game at pace, off-loading, moving the target, counter- attacking, will bring them rewards, as it has. But the new law interpretation was a huge boost for us too because we've wanted to move the ball and counter- attack and it's only been at the end of the Six Nations and the tour that we've been able to develop that to our advantage. We have to get better and improve, but it's certainly the game we want to play."That is the key - desire is one thing, but improving to a point of being Test-class adept is another. There are few arguments that the style of game Scotland have been developing over the past year is more thrilling to watch and more threatening, but is it closer to bringing the nation that elusive first victory over New Zealand?

Aside from the '25 defeats and two draws' statistic, the bare facts show that Scotland have managed only one try against the All Blacks in their past four meetings, going back to 2001 - New Zealand claimed 17 in those games. Townsend has experienced six defeats in the fixture, though the teams he played with regularly managed two or three tries.

The former stand-off is confident that his growing squad are ready for the ultimate challenge again, in their first Test match since mid-June. "We're very pleased with what went on last week at St Andrews, because it had been two-and-a-half months since the August session," he said.

"In terms of recovering the shape we put in place, instilling the kind of rugby we want to play, they got up to speed really quickly. It's a new game, a modern game, and we like operating in chaos. Traditionally, we have thrived there, it suits the physical nature of our players and it's what Glasgow and Edinburgh are trying to do every week.

"We've already highlighted to the team that we have to start quickly. We have to play at intensity for the full 80 minutes, but especially in that first quarter, and take the game to the All Blacks. As the games went on last weekend, the northern hemisphere teams built up their rhythm and started to believe that they could threaten the opposition."

Townsend added: "Traditionally, Scotland-New Zealand games are played at a real pace. We've got similar mindsets, historically, so you have seen really competitive games.

"Although the scorelines have favoured New Zealand, for large parts of the game they have been competitive, but the rugby we played at the end of the Six Nations and in Argentina is the base we want to move forward from, and that's putting defences under pressure by running them around the field, moving the target and keeping the ball alive as much as possible.

"If you play accurately, any team will find it hard. If you don't, you will give up the ball, and New Zealand are very good at punishing turnover ball. So it's risk and reward.We've got to back our skills to go into the areas where we can get rewards, even if that risks turnover. We've got to be accurate there.

"They have great backs, but there are great backs throughout the world right now and we believe our backs are right up there. What we did in Argentina and what we did away from home in Ireland with this backline was great to see. You will see them out there on Saturday, prepared to take on the opposition with the ball in hand and in defence."