Andy Robinson believes the weight of history can propel his Scotland players to victory against the All Blacks.

The Scots face New Zealand on 13 November at Murrayfield in the first of three autumn Tests, seeking their maiden win over their famous visitors.

"We are going to use the history. What has happened over the last 20 years, we have to build into our performance," said a determined Robinson.

"We mustn't fear New Zealand. We should be excited about the challenges ahead."

Scotland return to Murrayfield the following Saturday to play world champions South Africa in another tough encounter, before heading to the north-east to Pittodrie to welcome Samoa on 27 November.

Robinson, though buoyed by the historic series win in Argentina earlier this year, knows the magnitude of the challenge facing his team.

"New Zealand haven't lost over here for quite a few years," he said.

We will use the winning experiences of Argentina and Ireland away and channel all that into performing against the All Blacks Scotland head coach Andy Robinson

"They keep winning. They keep having top performances against the very best.

"It will take a special side from the northern hemisphere to beat them. That would be a huge achievement for any of the northern hemisphere teams.

"It's their ability to play at real pace and execute the basic skills under intense pressure."

The task facing the Scots was framed in stark terms by Robinson, who will be deprived of the talents of Chris Cusiter and Johnnie Beattie for the matches.

"We need every player to be at 95% or above of their ability and performance and we've got to have a huge team effort throughout the 80 minutes," was his assessment.

"We've got to believe in our ability to perform. The players can create history if we score more points than the opposition.

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"We will use the winning experiences of Argentina and Ireland away and channel all that into performing against the All Blacks."

The coach told BBC Scotland that he will focus on four "key values" to prepare the squad.

Robinson insists that the team must show it is progressing; that it earns the respect of opponents; that the players enjoy the Test matches; and that the team inspires the nation.

Achieving this, Robinson maintains, is about "selecting the right side and making sure that players are in form going into the game".

The coach relies on another quartet to determine who makes his first 15 - form, experience, tactics and previous Scotland displays.

"We've got to look at the way players have played individually within the two set-ups and with the exiled players," he said.

"I was delighted with the number of performances with the Edinburgh team last week against Leinster. I thought Richie Vernon and Richie Gray really stepped up their game against the Dragons away from home."

In addition, he is encouraged by the form of Sean Lamont at Scarlets and Hugo Southwell at Stade Francais and by the imminent return from injury of Simon Danielli.

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