Future Scotland coach Vern Cotter is at Murrayfield and while not “hands-on” will be part of “the coaching dialogue” as Scotland start their three-match viagogo Autumn Test series against Japan on Saturday.
Cotter, still attached to Clermont-Auvergne in France until the end of the season at the latest, is regarded as being “on holiday” this week from his day job, getting around the strict regulations about his present employment, and is over in Scotland in a primarily observational role.
That said, interim head coach and director of rugby Scott Johnson has no problems taking advice from his successor and doesn’t care where the New Zealander puts himself in the Murrayfield stands on Saturday to watch the match against the emerging Japanese.
“He can sit in the (coaches’) box, he can sit anywhere he damn well likes,” said the Australian.
“He’s not out on the training field, but he’s intimately involved in the process.
“Look, I’m not above conversation. He’s not taking sessions but he’s fully briefed on what we’re doing and how we’re set up, and it’s nice to have him here for clarity as much as anything.
“It’s like the other coaches, if someone has a good idea, then we’ll use it. We’re in this together and we need to put these things in place so that this time next year, we’re a long way down the road.”
As for the team to play Japan, Johnson has a plan going forward for the entire autumn South Africa and Australia follow in the next two weeks but the selection for Japan was about who was the best fit given availability for sessions, as the exiled players had to return to their clubs over the weekend.
“We have a plan in place but there’s also room for someone on form,” he said.
“There will be constants (over the three weeks) and there will be changes,” clearly indicating that one of those differing combindations will be the second row, where Glasgow duo Al Kellock and Tim Swinson starts while Richie Gray, arguably Scotland’s only world-class player at the moment, is one the bench.
“It’s one position where we have high hopes, we’ve got three big games and this won’t be the only lock combination we’ll see. Exiles and workload was a factor,” he said.
“Tim’s had some good games and had an outstanding tour with us, while Richie’s had a couple of niggles and it’s nice to get him where he can come back in quite easily.
“There’s pressure for spots in that area, the young guys, Swinno now, and the usual suspects. We have to have that depth for (the World Cup) in 22 months’ time.”
Two exiles that Johnson has included are returning skipper Kelly Brown and Alasdair Strokosch, perhaps the outstanding figure on the summer tour.
“That’s being fair to Kelly, he did superbly in the Six Nations for us and loyalty works both ways, you get it from players so you’ve got to give some back,” added Johnson.
“It’s important for him to start and show some consistency.”
Along with Kellock and Brown, Johnson has gone back to experience in the backs with Nick De Luca, who he didn’t take on tour to South Africa in the summer.
“Part of that was that Nick needed an off-season, part of it was I didn’t wanted to be tempted to return to type if things didn’t go well on tour,” continued the coach.
“So we kept him and Max (Evans) back so I didn’t do that. Alex Dunbar’s form on tour was superb and his form at the start has been great, but he’s injured.
“Now there’s competition there, Nick’s started the year very positively and Alex knows he has a competitior. That’s a pretty good thing for Scotland.”