GREGOR Townsend believes the make-up of the All Black side that will face his men at Murrayfield tomorrow is already an indicator of having regained respect from the world’s best side and he is hopeful that will result in more opportunities to challenge them in future.

Depleted by the loss of vice captain Ryan Wilson as well as tighthead prop Willem Nel, resulting in respective call-ups for Cornell du Preez and Zander Fagerson, the Scotland coach has selected the 30th Scotland team to attempt to achieve what their predecessors have failed to by becoming the first to beat the All Blacks in a Test match.

In doing so he reckoned the recent improvement in Scotland’s performances under the tourists’ fellow New Zealander Vern Cotter, which carried into his own reign when Scotland beat the Wallabies in the summer, has made an impact.

“It shows that they view us as a very competitive side that they have to play their best to beat,” he said of opposite number Steve Hansen’s decision to keep changes to his side to a minimum following last weekend’s 38-18 thrashing of France in St Denis.

That was a shift away from their policy of the past decade in which they have tended to play sub-strength sides at Murrayfield, such was their confidence that they could do so and still win.

Townsend, meanwhile, chose to bring up the matter of how long it has been since Scotland were invited to tour New Zealand, which is another indicator of their view of the drawing power of opponents who shipped 215 points in their last four Tests on New Zealand soil in 1996 and 2000.

“We don’t play them very often New Zealand,” he said. “We’ve not been in New Zealand for 17 years, which is a real shame. We used to tour there every five or six years. Now we’ve got an opportunity at home in front of 67,000 to give our best and put pressure on them for 80 minutes.”

He played in all four of those tour Tests and, in spite of being on the wrong end of such thrashings, is keen to see Scotland tour New Zealand again, such is the opportunity to learn.

“It is disappointing that we haven’t been to New Zealand for such a long while. I do believe that will change in the next few years,” he said. “I’d like to hope that we’ll be back out there within the next two or three seasons because it is a great environment to test yourself, to learn from.”

On a personal level he admitted that the prospect of facing the All Blacks always had an effect, while noting that if anything their aura of invincibility has grown since his playing days.

“I just think you knew it was the ultimate test, so the focus went up a few notches,” he said.

“It’s the biggest challenge that any country, any player faces in rugby, to play the best rugby team. They’ve been the number one ranked team for eight years I heard today. There’s not many nations or clubs that can do that in any sport, so you know it’s the ultimate test, so you know you’ve got to get the focus, the best out of yourself and your team-mates and view it as an opportunity.

“We’ve got a job to do and that’s to play as well as we can to win the game for our country and in any game you’ve got to take the game to the opposition in attack and defence. So we admire the way New Zealand play, I love New Zealand as a country, but when you play any team, if you want to lose you’ll just sit back and admire their play, if you want to win you’ll really go at them. That’s what we have to do and that’s what we’re planning to do,” said Townsend.

In saying so there is an obvious awareness that the defensive failings that allowed the side ranked 16th in the world to score five tries against them last weekend would invite a full strength All Blacks side to run rampant as they have done so often before.

“This week we are very aware the threats New Zealand pose,” said Townsend. “The way the Samoan game went. It got quite loose and open. If we do that this weekend we will concede.”