The Scotland scrum might find itself on the end of a backlash against the All Blacks with the RWC favourites not yet happy about the performance of their dominant set piece.
"In this week we've got to take another step up,” said All Blacks skipper
Richie McCaw. “It's going to be a tougher challenge. The scrum side
of things we've haven't been totally happy with and sometimes you're strengths
you forget about because you're working on other things.
"We just decided we needed to put more time into that."
The All Blacks side will be revealed tonight (NZ time) with only Keith Robinson and Mils Muliaina unavailable.
"It's been the case for a few years that there are quite a few positions in the team that are a flip of a coin who plays," said McCaw.
"Depending on who you are playing and where everyone is at will determine who plays.
"I'm picking this week will be fairly close to it, but a few injuries here and there may change things as we go on.
"We have a squad of 30 where any one can take the track and we have confidence in them.
