Doddie Weir is looking forward to the inaugural cup which is named in his honour

plain about a Scottish victory, and neither would his former Scotland, Lions, Borders and Co-Optimists Melrose Sevens-winning team-mate Gregor Townsend. “Toony” made a guest appearance on Thursday at Murrayfield at a special reception for Weir’s book launch and had nothing but kind things to say about him. Would he reciprocate?

“Gregor? ‘He’s a Gala man … next question!” Weir joked, before given credit where it was due.

“No he’s been great. He’s been very supportive and he’s doing well for the team. Vern [Cotter] really got things going and Gregor has continued that good work and success. It is an exciting brand of rugby. There’s a good structure there. He has a good team behind him and a good group of players to work with. It’s a good time for Scottish rugby – and I can see it continuing like that for the next while.”

It might look like the same game, but Weir, capped 61 times for his country and a member of the 1999 Five Nations winning squad, doesn’t envy the current generation one bit.

“I don’t think there is the same fun. But the players of today will only know this side of international rugby whereas I got the chance to see it both as an amateur and a pro.

“When we were amateur and when we went professional originally, we only maybe trained once or twice a day, there was no assessment of your heart rate, your GPS, what your diet was, what you were up to, how much you were training or not training.

“There was a little bit of game management, or a big bit at times, but not the off-the-field assessments you see now.

“We’d meet up on a Wednesday night. We’d have a few social shandies because that’s good for team unity, and we’d play on the Saturday.

“That would be frowned against now. That would not happen. And some of you know about being on a tour. In the good old days the press and everyone got together. That doesn’t happen now because of mobile phones and one thing and another.”

Weir is looking forward to meeting some of the other old-timers next week in Cardiff.

“My big pal Scott Quinnell will be there, Rob Howley and a good few others. We’ll show the young boys a thing or two, or rather we won’t – because they’ll be flying home.” Weir’s book, My Name’5 Doddie, from Black & White Publishing is out now