17/09/2007 NZPA
Scotland are welcome to select a B side this week, says All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen, unconcerned that the All Blacks might not face tough opposition before the quarterfinals.
There is every chance Monday morning's (NZT) pool C-deciding match in Edinburgh will produce another effortless New Zealand win, with the Scots likely to select many of their second-choice players to best juggle a difficult schedule.
Scotland must first negotiate the stubborn Romania on Wednesday morning (NZ time) in Edinburgh and will finish with the match likely to decide second place in the pool, against Italy at St Etienne on September 29.
Sandwiched in the middle is a match against the rampant world No 1-ranked All Blacks.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry last week called on Scotland to select a strong team and not get "too cute".
However, Hansen said he would be unperturbed about facing the second-stringers.
"They'll do what they have to do, I can't control what that is," he said.
"We want to win the pool and to do that we have to win our next two games.
"To be honest, we don't care who they put on the track, it's what we do (that counts)."
Hansen couldn't resist a chance to throw doubt into the mind of Scotland coach Frank Hadden.
"I'm sure they'd like to win the game and top the pool. I'm sure they'd like to have a quarterfinal in Cardiff, like we do."
The All Blacks are starting to look more closely at some of their likely rivals in the playoffs.
Scrum coach Mike Cron attended South Africa's 36-0 whitewash of England in Paris on Saturday morning while assistant coach Wayne Smith and selector Brian Lochore missed New Zealand's romp against Portugal to attend Australia's game against Wales in Cardiff.
Hansen said the trips were merely to build "foundation" information about opposition teams.
"The team we play next are our biggest threat, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," he said.
"A mistake we've made in the past is getting too far ahead of ourselves and getting complacent."
The All Blacks team to face Scotland will be named on Wednesday night (NZT) and should closely resemble the side who beat Italy.
There is every chance Monday morning's (NZT) pool C-deciding match in Edinburgh will produce another effortless New Zealand win, with the Scots likely to select many of their second-choice players to best juggle a difficult schedule.
Scotland must first negotiate the stubborn Romania on Wednesday morning (NZ time) in Edinburgh and will finish with the match likely to decide second place in the pool, against Italy at St Etienne on September 29.
Sandwiched in the middle is a match against the rampant world No 1-ranked All Blacks.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry last week called on Scotland to select a strong team and not get "too cute".
However, Hansen said he would be unperturbed about facing the second-stringers.
"They'll do what they have to do, I can't control what that is," he said.
"We want to win the pool and to do that we have to win our next two games.
"To be honest, we don't care who they put on the track, it's what we do (that counts)."
Hansen couldn't resist a chance to throw doubt into the mind of Scotland coach Frank Hadden.
"I'm sure they'd like to win the game and top the pool. I'm sure they'd like to have a quarterfinal in Cardiff, like we do."
The All Blacks are starting to look more closely at some of their likely rivals in the playoffs.
Scrum coach Mike Cron attended South Africa's 36-0 whitewash of England in Paris on Saturday morning while assistant coach Wayne Smith and selector Brian Lochore missed New Zealand's romp against Portugal to attend Australia's game against Wales in Cardiff.
Hansen said the trips were merely to build "foundation" information about opposition teams.
"The team we play next are our biggest threat, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," he said.
"A mistake we've made in the past is getting too far ahead of ourselves and getting complacent."
The All Blacks team to face Scotland will be named on Wednesday night (NZT) and should closely resemble the side who beat Italy.
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