Scotland may only have arrived on Australian soil on Tuesday morning, but they have wasted no time in getting to know the locals.
Coach Ian McGeechan and his squad held a three hour coaching clinic for a group of talented youngsters at Caloundra on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast today.
“Hopefully it will stand them in good stead for the rest of their rugby careers, whether they go on to play for the Wallabies or go on to play social rugby," said Graham Law, the Scotland team’s official spokesperson.
Law said one parent he spoke to after the session said her boy lay awake all night from the sheer excitement of attending the session the following morning.
Good PR
“There are people that seem to believe that you can’t do this kind of thing and win a Tournament, but we would regard the two as mutually exclusive,” Law said.
“You can do the PR stuff and be part of a global game without it jeopardising your chances of winning.
“You do have a responsibility to the broader game and our guys were happy to fulfil that today.”
Law said the whole squad coped well with the long flight from London by sleeping only during the second leg of the journey from Bangkok to Sydney.
Unexpected weather
However, after training inside a greenhouse at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens in an attempt to simulate the Australian conditions things haven’t been quite what they expected.
“That was with a view to the humidity we were likely to experience in Townsville," he said.
“The weather here [north of Brisbane] has been a mixed bag. After a light shower on Tuesday it was absolutely teaming down on Wednesday morning.
“Yesterday afternoon was very pleasant but last night we had a fairly spectacular tropical storm including lightning, hail and the lot.”
“But we are being told by the locals here we’ll find it hot in Townsville, but we know what to expect and we are prepared for it.”
Injured players shaping up well
Law reports injured players including TomSmith (broken thumb) and Gregor Townsend (knee surgery) are shaping up well.
“Townsend had knee surgery three weeks ago today and you would never guess it. He is moving really well.”
While McGeechan has not revealed the private goal he has set for the side, publicly it’s simply to win the next game.
Law says getting anything above their current International Rugby Board (IRB) World Ranking of ninth would be a bonus.
“We just know you’ve got to get momentum from these pool games starting from game one and try and build momentum and that’s what we’ll look to do against the Japanese.”
Scotland begin their RWC campaign against Japan in Townsville on 12 October.