Change is as good as break for Scots

McFarland now knows what makes Ross Ford such a good player. so looking forward to going on tour.”

Though McFarland knows the Glasgow players who make up the bulk of the tour squad better than the Edinburgh boys or the Exiles, he insists there’ll be no familiarity bias.

“You have to be aware of it,” says the former Connacht prop, “and over the last couple of months I have made sure I understand what it is about Ross Ford that makes him such a good player, how is Magnus Bradbury getting on?

“All of the players I didn’t see on a day-to-day basis I need to know more about but I like them all. These are good fellas who are hungry to do well and as a coach you want to be around ambitious young men.”

Another unknown quantity is tighthead prop WP Nel who hasn’t played for Scotland since last summer’s tour to Japan and has played just once in seven months for Edinburgh, in January, because of a serious neck injury.

“I hadn’t worked with him before but now I have seen first- hand why fellas find him so difficult,” grins McFarland.

“He is an older guy who has been through a tough injury period but he has come back and he is feeling really good.

“He is really confident and that’s great. I’m watching him scrum in training and although he was thinking: ‘I haven’t done this for a while’ you could see he was also thinking: ‘I love my job’.”

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