Ross Ford poses with the Hopetoun Cup after leading Scotland to victory over Australia earlier this year © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

News: Scotland unveil new change strip

Players/Officials: Ross Ford

Teams: Scotland

Scotland hooker Ross Ford has set his sights on another notable southern hemisphere scalp in the form of New Zealand when the two sides clash at Murrayfield next month.

Ford steered the Scots to a memorable victory over Australia in June and is confident of another upset when they tackle the world champions in their opening autumn international on November 11.

"This is a brilliant challenge," Ford told The Scotsman. "They are the best team in the world and you want to play them and beat them. It's going to take a lot of hard work and an 80-minute performance but you go into games like that with a belief that you can win, so nothing changes really.

"New Zealand are the No.1 ranked team and have just won the Rugby Championship, so I expect a very confrontational game. There's no doubting that they're a good team and they will be a hard team to break down but we've often found after we've [played] them that boys have been shocked. Boys who haven't played against them before have come off realising that it's not any different to any other international.

"They are very clinical and you have to be switched on for the full 80 minutes but that's where I mean it's not different to other games. It's just the application and consistency in performance. If we get that right, we can match them and we go into every game believing we can win."

Ford took on the captaincy ahead of this year's Six Nations when first-choice skipper Kelly Brown was sidelined through injury. That proved to be a fruitless campaign with the Scots picking up the wooden spoon but having also spearheaded an unbeaten summer tour Ford is hoping to hold off the challenge for the honour from a fit-again Brown.

"I would love to captain the team against New Zealand and be captain for the autumn Test series. Kelly is coming back but I'm quite happy with the job I've done up to now so we'll see what happens," said Ford.

"We [Ford and Robinson] often have talks and he's said he's happy with what I'm doing, so it's up to him what he wants to do come the autumn Tests. I've enjoyed it and would like to keep doing it but whatever he decides is best for the team I'm happy to go along with."