'Dropping Van der Merwe a huge but understandable call'

Dropping Duhan van der Merwe, Scotland's joint-record try scorer, in favour of Kyle Steyn for the match against New Zealand on Saturday is a huge call from Gregor Townsend but an understandable one.

Nobody offers what Van der Merwe does in an attack, but defensively and under the high ball he can be suspect.

Steyn is the more rounded player and while he does not produce the fireworks of Van der Merwe, he will bring aerial ability and defensive nous, and his own try return at Test level is very good.

The glaring area of concern is at tighthead. The failure of Zander Fagerson to recover from injury in time to face the All Blacks is a grievous blow.

D'Arcy Rae is simply not at Fagerson's level and has little experience in the Test arena, certainly in games of this magnitude.

The Edinburgh prop will need to find a level he has never done before, much like when Darryl Marfo emerged from nowhere amid a front-row injury crisis to face the All Blacks in 2017 and let nobody down.

Rae's one and only job will be to keep up his side of the scrum. Easier said than done against the power of Ethan de Groot.