The All Blacks won’t lose “silly games” under Dave Rennie as they did during Scott Robertson’s tenure as head coach.

That is the opinion of former Springboks hooker Hanyani Shimange after watching New Zealand defeat the Scots 43-21 at Murrayfield. This time last year, Robertson’s All Blacks team claimed a narrow 25-17 victory with Damian McKenzie scoring a late try to seal the result.

However, the performance in the Scottish capital this time around was far more comprehensive, with New Zealand keeping the hosts scoreless in the second half and adding three tries to their tally.

All Blacks won’t drop easy games like Scotland anymore

There has been a real hope in recent years that Scotland would notch up that first-ever victory over the All Blacks, who are unbeaten at Murrayfield, but again, Gregor Townsend’s men were unable to do just that, and Shimange believes that while there was a chance that could happen under Robertson, it won’t under Rennie.

“Under Dave Rennie, I don’t think they’ll drop like silly games. Whereas under Razor, I thought maybe there was a chance,” the ex-Stormers hooker said on the Verdict show where he was joined by fellow ex-Boks Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger.

“They won’t drop easy games, and I don’t think New Zealand necessarily played that well.”

Former flanker and World Rugby Player of the Year, Burger, disagreed that the All Blacks didn’t play well but was equally damning in his assessment of the Scots.

“I think their second half was good because it was suffocating and they strangled them,” he remarked.

“They had those two tries straight off the bat. Then when they went up 36 points to 20, whatever it was, then they just kicked early in the set and pinned Scotland in their own half, and then obviously Scotland hung themselves.”

Gregor Townsend doesn’t have a plan B

Burger believes that Scotland are playing a similar brand of rugby to the All Blacks and that they don’t have a plan B, which meant that there was only going to be one outcome.

“If you look at the two 23s, Gregor Townsend wants to play high-pace Super Rugby against them, and you look at the All Blacks side, and you say, let’s go play high-pace Super Rugby – they were always going to win,” he said.

“That’s the issue that the Scottish side has. They’re a one-trick pony, but they don’t have the tools to actually go take the pace out of the game and sort of bully the All Blacks, or carry it close to the guts or kick a little bit earlier in the set. Force the All Blacks to exit outside their 22 for 10 minutes and let them just take the heat out of the game because the All Blacks will get frustrated and make some bad decisions, but because they just play high tempo, high tempo, quick throw, play around, the set phase, I think it’s always going to be one result, unfortunately.”

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Shimange added that Townsend’s side is also inconsistent in their performances and results.

“The best Scottish performance was the one against us at Loftus,” he said.

“I mean, they were cross-kick away from winning. Remember, it was Kyle Steyn who knocked it on; that’s probably the best game they’ve had, though. Again, when last did they win the Six Nations, they have these pockets of magic.”

Scotland now turn their attention to their meeting with Eddie Jones’ Japan while Rennie’s All Blacks head to Cardiff where they will face Wales.