All Blacks Back Their Scrum to Answer Scotland's Power Test at Murrayfield

New Zealand's scrum will face a searching examination at Murrayfield on Saturday, and scrum coach Jason Ryan believes his pack is now ready for it. The set-piece was a running talking point through the four-Test series against South Africa, with the All Blacks on the back foot for much of it and the two camps trading words in public over how it was being judged. Ryan says the tide began to turn in the later matches of that series, and the improvement carried into the Bledisloe Cup games against Australia. Part of the earlier trouble, he explained, was that tighthead Tyrel Lomax was playing while not fully fit; Lomax then missed the two Tests against the Wallabies and has been left out of the tour of the United Kingdom. In his place, uncapped prop Saula Ma'u has been given an opportunity the coaches believe he has earned. Ryan also pointed to the influence of lock Scott Barrett packing down on the tighthead side, adding power and a solid platform, and to a competitive loosehead group: Ethan de Groot is back fit and vying with the experienced George Bower for the start, while Xavier Numia offers a different threat with ball in hand. Tamaiti Williams remains unavailable with a back infection. Scotland, coached in the set-piece by Pieter de Villiers and built around Pierre Schoeman and Zander Fagerson, will be no soft landing — and with England having owned the best scrum in this year's Six Nations, the northern leg promises more of the same.