Peter Lakai’s form has been one of the brightest storylines of the All Blacks‘ 2026 season, and after a trying Springboks series, the 23-year-old credits his growing confidence for the continued improvement.

Lakai has been named in the No.7 jersey for New Zealand’s date with Scotland at Murrayfield this weekend, with his performances in the recent Bledisloe Cup Tests ensuring the absences of both Luke Jacobson and All Blacks captain Ardie Savea are non-fatal for his side.

Lakai says experiencing just how ferocious the physicality in the Test arena can be has put him in good stead to compete at the top level, and he’s starting to feel more comfortable there.

When asked what the biggest difference between the version of him that faced Scotland last year and the version that will play them this weekend is, Lakai replied: “I guess it’s just confidence.”

“Coming off that South Africa tour, obviously playing the number one team in the world four weeks in a row definitely helped. They’re probably the benchmark in World Rugby when it comes to physicality, and I learnt a few things from there, and then just trying to apply my learnings to each game, and playing confidently. I’m happy with the footy I’m playing at the moment.”

It’s not just Lakai who has grown since the last time these nations met, though. The entire All Blacks squad has come through a gruelling, historic series loss to the Springboks and gained a clearer picture of the standard they must meet.

“We reviewed that tour, and it was fair to say that we got beaten up a bit at the set piece, and going into that Aussie tour, we wanted to touch that up and give ourselves the best chance to have possession and play in the right parts of the field. And yeah, we’re happy with our results in Australia, but obviously coming up north, it’s a different beast; they’re quality teams up here that we’ve got to play three weeks in a row.

“So yeah, we’ve sort of set the standard for ourselves. I guess we’ve just got to lift it on this tour.”

Dave Rennie will be hoping his young star loose forward can continue his ascent through the ranks of rugby’s great back-row talents as New Zealand chase the inaugural Nations Championship title. And it’s not just the one young loose forward who will be tasked with delivering the result.

Wallace Sititi has been named at No.8 for the Test, with Tupou Vaa’i at blindside flanker. Despite having an average age of just 24 between them, Lakai says the loose forward trio bring “a good balance” to the game.

“I played quite a bit with Wally coming through the age grades and getting to play with him at international is pretty special as well. He’s a special player. He’s instinctive, which is easy for me to read off and play off him. And Toups as well; he’s got good football IQ, and he leads our team well in the set-piece area. So it’s a good balance within our loosie group.”

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie highlighted this week how long these Scotland players have been together, noting the continuity of selection as one of their biggest strengths. It’s a squad that has given the Kiwis trouble before.

“We obviously got off to a fast start last year,” Lakai reflected. “We were up quite a bit at halftime, and then the Scottish team, they’re a quality team, and they don’t lay down, and they obviously came back and gave us a bit of a scare last year.”