Pete Horne (left) believes New Zealand have rediscovered their mojo
By
Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter
- Published2 minutes ago
Scotland assistant Pete Horne says his team will be facing an All Blacks side who have rediscovered some of their old aura when the sides meet in the Nations Championship at Murrayfield on Saturday.
The Scots are looking to end a 121-year-old wait for a first win over New Zealand.
After an indifferent spell which resulted in the sacking of former head coach Scott Robertson earlier this year, performances have picked up since the appointment of former Glasgow Warriors coach Dave Rennie.
They registered a victory - although lost the series 3-1 - against world champions South Africa, and delivered crushing wins home and away over Australia last month.
"Their record speaks for itself," said Horne, who played under Rennie during his spell at Scotstoun.
"They've got such a talented bunch of players and they're really well coached as well. They've got brilliant coaches. We know them really well.
"They seem to have really got their mojo back. They're on a great stretch at the moment, two brilliant wins against Australia. We've dug into those and they're playing some great rugby.
"They'll be coming here with the wind in their sails, expecting to put on a good performance. We can look back and take a lot of confidence from last year [a 25-17 victory for the All Blacks at Murrayfield] as well. We caused them a lot of problems.
"There's definitely things in that game we could have done a lot better and we'll rue a lot of missed chances, but we're really excited about this weekend. It's just class to be playing these teams more often.
"I think we've only played them 30 times or something. I only got the chance to play them once. The fact that we're getting more regular games against top-four positions is only going to help the boys. They're desperate to go out and showcase their talents on the big stage."
