Vern Cotter’s authority demands silence and concentration when he speaks to the Scotland squad but the first time it was a little a bit of an uneasy silence, according to wing Sean Maitland.
The imposing new head coach is well known for his methods and philosophies that turned Clermont-Auvergne into a major power in France and Europe, but he turned the tables on the Scotland squad when he first spoke to them.
“He came in and basically asked us, ‘OK lads, how do you want to play, what style do you want?’” said Maitland. “To be honest the first reaction was just (the sound of) crickets we were a bit surprised.
“But he was putting the onus on us from the start. There’s a lot of players of great quality with leadership roles and lots of experience and eventually we all put our views in.
“I think there’s a general idea that we have to develop our game; it was either play it tight or swing it wide when we really should be looking to mix it up and create an identity for the team, which is something we’ve maybe lost a bit.”
With that in mind, Cotter has been quick to try to get the team in touch with their past, with some more attention to the Grand Slam teams of 1984 and 1990.
“We’ve looked at them and the way they were ruthless on the field, that’s been one of the main messages,” continued Maitland. “We’ve been listening to some of the words of Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer as well. We’re just trying to get that identity back.”
The new head coach hasn’t changed a huge amount out on the training field, except that the players are out there moving for much longer than they have been used to.
“Vern’s just all about playing what you see; ‘be rugby players, don’t be afraid to have a go,”continued Maitland. “We’ve got an incredible playing surface here at BT Murrayfield now so there’s the stage to express yourself with running rugby.
“The main thing is having fun, off the field and on. It’s not big changes, just his own little drills, tweaking here and there.
“The practice games he’s introduced are great fun. We’re running for a good five to 10 minutes which is good because it’s unstructured play, and let’s face it a lot of the actual game is unstructured in that way.
“The continuity in training is good because it puts pressure on you to know your role and take that into the game.”
It also helps to have so many of his Glasgow Warriors team-mates with him, with it likely that he, Tommy Seymour and Stuart Hogg will line up for Scotland as they do for their club.
“With the combinations, it’s all about getting used to one another, knowing what they do on the field in certain situations,” he continued.
“So it has to help if it’s your clubmates because you’re always together we know one another really well.
“It can be something as simple as the language that you use to communicate, knowing what the other guy does and what he’ll say or do.
“Someone like Alex Dunbar, you know he’ll carry so you try to run off him, or Hoggy being good on his feet and ready to have a go, so as a winger you stay with him.
“It’s great for the club that so many of us are in the squad.”
First to see the new look Scotland will be Argentina on Saturday, with both sides at full strength when they were equally not for the meeting in Cordoba in June, won narrowly by the Scots.
“We can take a little from that game but they were missing a few guys and so were we,” said Maitland. “In think what we took from that is how good their back play is now, they have an exciting group and their new wing (Manuel) Montero is a huge guy.
“It’s always been physical against Argentina up front but now it’s the same in the backs.”
New Zealand-born Maitland wouldn’t be human if he wasn’t thinking a little about the match that follows, however, when the All Blacks return to Edinburgh.
“They’re the Everest of the game,” he said. “Obviously we’re not worrying about them until we’re finished with the Pumas, but equally obviously if I get the opportunity to play against them it will be amazing.
“They’re just the best at the basics, that’s why they’re so good, it’s just catch and pass. It gives them the confidence to know that even if they’re 14 points down with 10 minutes left, they can pull it out of the fire like they did against Ireland last year and Australia last month.
“But we’re looking it as three massive matches against three great teams. We want to be gaining momentum and form in a World Cup year, and the Pumas will be a massive test as will Tonga.”