My reaction is that the fundamental role of national coach needs to be re-examined in Scotland.

And, at the outset of this piece, I have to say in Andy Robinson's defence that some of that rubbish on Saturday wasn't his fault, it was players buying dummies, players going high into contact, players seemingly unable to break a defence and players missing kicks.

What's more, they will have learned to do this under other coaches, probably since they were five years old.

He was let down by his players on Scottish soil.

Greig Laidlaw finds progress tough against Tonga, who secured their first win over Scotland at Aberdeen on Saturday. Photo: Getty

Oh, there were stories that his schoolteacher attitude wound a few of them up, and he had a sharp tongue, but that's a good coach who has walked away.

You won't find players saying he was a bad coach. He was, in fact, very probably the best forwards coach in the business.

I'd like him to stay in Scottish rugby, coaching those detailed aspects of forward play, but that won't happen.

But here's the main thrust about this piece today: I don't see what's so complicated about coaching a national team.

For 40-odd weeks of the year your players are being fed, coached, trained and lectured by some of the best coaches in the world at English, Scottish and French clubs.

The players at your disposal dovetail with their club systems. They have their weight-training programmes, their defensive systems, their attack systems, their set-piece plays.

Surely the job of a national coach must be to give the players two attack systems and allow them to work out the rest themselves.

The role of a national coach is to organise and with the minimum of fuss. There should be no smoke and mirrors, no promises of some rugby nirvana, no interminable meetings and talking.

And no talk of winning the next World Cup with a golden generation of players. There is no such thing as rugby talent, there is only success brought on by working hard.

And there is no golden generation. Kiwi players, and for that matter Tongan players, work hard at their rugby in a school of hard knocks.

A national coach needs to hammer home set-piece practice, shape practice, a few calls, make sure fitness isn't lost, and get blasted in. Keep it simple.

The problem with that display on Saturday was that the players looked as though they hadn't even been introduced at times. The attacking shape broke down in its complexity and certainly rarely threatened.

And that will be nagging at Robinson. It's the same "same way" system as was used on the Southern Hemisphere tour and it had success there, but not here.

Why? Goodness knows.

Let's go through what we do know. New Zealand and South Africa are better teams than us, Samoa beat Wales and nearly beat France. Argentina beat Wales. South Africa and Australia beat England.

The power base of world rugby is shifting from nice boys in the Northern Hemisphere to a more brutal Southern Hemisphere game laden with skill and power that we aren't matching. Just how we approach that I don't know.

I just think the whole role of national coach, both in rugby and in football, needs to be re-examined, especially here in Scotland. The players are not the produce of the national coach. There is no long-term planning by the national coach. He takes players who are coached by someone else and moulds them into a national framework for a handful of games a year.

He doesn't need a caravan of helpers large enough to accompany Marco Polo.

In fact, the players don't need to be in camp all this time. I remember Judy Murray telling me that Andy Murray's Olympics success came from Ivan Lendl's advice that you prepare for a Wimbledon final or an Olympic final in the same way that you have prepared for every other game in your life.

Out went the special preparation, the bigger hotels, the bigger team, and he won a gold medal and the US Open.

You change precisely nothing.

I do understand the logic behind Edinburgh and Glasgow playing the Robinson way and I do get that element of the influence the national coach might have.

But only eight of the starting 15 against Tonga play for Edinburgh or Glasgow.

I hope the SRU pares down the national coaching set-up and gets a proven organiser.

Who would you like to see as Scotland coach?

Dan Carter stepped up to take a kick at goal at Murrayfield and sections of our Scottish crowd started booing. And there I was thinking: "I've advocated this in the past!".

Carter is one of the best players ever to have played rugby. He's a hard working ambassador for our game and I actually felt a little sick.

I actually felt a little ashamed at Scots doing that to someone who is an opponent and an ambassador for rugby.

It was wrong. There is no place for the denigration of opponents at any rugby stadium, especially Murrayfield. Do you agree?

South Africa were 16-12 winners in Dublin last weekend

Anyway, last weekend Scotland scored three tries so it wasn't all doom and gloom.

Interestingly the All Blacks played last year's Glasgow game plan, the same as the Saracens game plan, of three pods with the second rows and props in the middle of the pitch, the remaining forwards split either side, and Dan Carter chose which side to attack.

Fairly simple stuff but Scotland's defence didn't cope. The line-out was erratic and the brutality of the All Blacks, added to Carter's imperious kicking, were too much.

It must have been satisfying for Carter to slot the kicks with boos ringing in his ears.

Starting with the front row I thought Geoff Cross had one of his best games in a Scotland jersey and deserved to start again.

Richie Gray, who was excellent, could have finished the 80 minutes, Jim Hamilton's power was superb with one line-out adjustment sheer perfection but I'd like to see him give away no penalties in a game, and the finishing back row looked strong.

John Barclay now joins it and he won't let anyone down.

But we lack power in midfield and I guess the Springboks might target there.

Our pattern of play was to go the same way running off ten or nine and trying to get wide too. South Africa's pattern to date has been the Blue Bulls pattern of one out runners smashing their way up the pitch.

This game is going to be tough.

Getting back to the issue of getting on the back of kickers, rugby is different from other sports.

We shake hands after the game despite horrendous conflicts and impacts. We respect the referee. We sit side-by-side with opposition fans, we laugh with them, share food with them, and even have a drink with them.

It's about respect.

I don't want sporting etiquette to be eroded in my game. There are few things more impressive in rugby than the Munster crowd falling completely and absolutely silent as an opponent takes a kick.

And so, with that in mind, I really, really hope that this weekend fans at Murrayfield give the South African kicker the respect he deserves and cut out the boos. Though maybe, just maybe, you disagree...

Kamate, Kamate, Ka Ora Ka Ora. Yup, former Scotland scrum half Roy Laidlaw and I sat up very late in Northern New Zealand with a travelling troupe of Maori dancers and learned the Haka in 1983.

Oh, I can be cynical at times, but the All Black Haka is one of the great wonders of the world, as are the All Blacks.

The car's engine stopped purring as I turned the key; I looked around this strangely busy car park.

To my left was the Glasgow coach Bill Dickinson, trying to look anonymous under a cloth cap and slumped in his car, and at least three of my team mates were dotted around the car park in their cars.

Scotland face a huge task against the mighty All Blacks at Murrayfield

The All Blacks were a draw even for future opponents. We were beaten 9-3 or something similar and thought we should have won at a packed Hughenden.

But that was just the point. The All Blacks won.

And in a 105-year history of touring this country they have never been beaten by us.

And no wonder, frankly, if you take a look at the remarkable skills on display in the All Blacks "Pick Me" videos on Youtube: all that catching balls from behind looks tough.

And just looking through this New Zealand team to play Scotland it is remarkable in its strength.

Piri Weepu, for me, has always been one of the world's great scrum halves.

Richie McCaw has possibly been the world's top back row forward. Cory Jane and Israel Dagg are remarkable attack runners, Dan Carter would get in any team's first XV, and the All Blacks, frankly, hate losing.

This is the bit where you call me an eternal optimist.

I think Scotland can win this game; I have a worry as to whether big Richie Gray is fully fit, and our half backs might be light and targeted by New Zealand, as will the midfield.

Nevertheless, it's a balanced side and probably mighty hacked off at winning their big games away from home and not at Murrayfield.

You see, if you win in Australia, as Scotland did in the summer, it's not classified as a "real" result: It wasn't in the World Cup nor the Six Nations.

So, Andy Robinson's men have the chance to get away from the strife at Sale, the erratic form of Edinburgh and get back in the groove.

If Scotland do turn up, don't get overawed, and treat Murrayfield as a place to be confident, then this game can be won.

Bad weather or good, Scotland can beat the world's greatest rugby team. Now John, settle down, or you will have a heart attack.

Right you lot, how do you think the game will go?

Follow John Beattie on twitter on @bbcjohnbeattie

It isn't just his occupation: England fly-half, he is almost certain to start in that most scrutinised and pivotal position in the forthcoming autumn internationals. It's his genealogy: both grandfathers noted film and television actors, maternal grandmother the same.

It's even spelled out on his passport. Flood's middle names are Gerald - after the paternal grandfather who starred in Dr Who, Steptoe and Son, and Patton - and Albert Lieven, his mother's father, who played the villainous Flashman's father in 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' and a whole range of Nazis in a number of war-time pot-boilers.

It's as if he were born for the spotlight. Except, in reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

Flood is the most experienced player in the England squad with 50 caps. Picture: Getty

"I've always disliked it," he says. "I've always hated the idea of having to go there and do things and always be on show.

"You're sometimes jealous of the guys like Chris Robshaw who can just go out there and keep their head down, work incredibly hard and come out knowing they've ticked all the boxes. You are sometimes jealous of that, because you shoulder so much responsibility."

By accident or design, Flood's performances over the next month of Saturdays will play a huge part in determining whether England's story has a happier ending than it often does at this time of year.

Forget winters of discontent. Autumn, for a generation of England stars, has been a season of misses and mellow fruitlessness.

In the nine years since the World Cup win of 2003, they have recorded only four wins at home over the old Tri-Nations teams. All three of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand will be striding onto the Twickenham stage again this month, with Fiji to open up this Saturday. The plot is due a change.

"This is [the equivalent of] coming into the quarter-finals of a World Cup and going all the way through to the final. You have to beat these sides. This has to be us setting down a mark," he insisted.

"Twickenham used to be a fortress - not many teams came here and won. That's shifted.

"You understand the difficulty of it, but you want a space that is ours, where it is very, very difficult for anyone to come here and beat us.

Those autumn struggles - and occasional rare triumphs - have defined Flood's own career. He made his international debut as a coltish 21-year-old in dismal defeat by Argentina six years ago. His finest display for his country, when he landed a record-breaking 25 points against Australia, came during the Wallabies' last visit to Twickenham two years ago.

Remarkably, at 27 years old, he is now the squad's most experienced player, his 50 caps setting him apart in coach Stuart Lancaster's young regime.

He is not necessarily the most settled. Flood has seldom been allowed to feel comfortable in the number 10 jersey. Of those 50 caps only 32 have been starts, the varied threats of injury, form and rivals meaning he has hokey-cokeyed with the best of them.

"It can be tough," he admits, thinking back to the period before the last World Cup when a 12-match run was ended by the sudden recall of his old mentor Jonny Wilkinson. "We had had success as a side - we went all the way to a Grand Slam game. It was the first time we had finished top of the Six Nations for years. It can be frustrating to deal with.

"The settled thing is an interesting point. Stu has made it an important point that no-one ever feels settled. Gone are the days two weeks out saying 'You're in the squad, this is how it's going to be, this is the line-up'.

"There's none of that now. Chris [Robshaw] doesn't find out that he's captain until the week before the first match. Stu has always made it as competitive, and as fearful for your place, as he can. There is that edge in training."

Is that always a good thing? Isn't a player worried about his place less likely to take risks, more likely to play safety-first rugby?

Flood nods. "That's the balance of what he's doing. He's making you fear for your spot, but when you pull the shirt on he wants you to go out there and play without fear. It's a clever balance."

Wilkinson might have departed for the warm sunshine and welcome of southern France, but the pretenders to his throne keep on queuing. Charlie Hodgson and Owen Farrell shared fly-half duties with success during the Six Nations; George Ford is pushing Flood hard at his club Leicester, while Gloucester's tyro Freddie Burns will train with England this week, to the delight of many in the west and beyond.

Does Flood find himself watching those rivals intently, whether in camp with England or on television highlights?

"No. I've never done that, not with Jonny or Charlie or anything. 'How many had he kicked? What's his passing been like?' Never.

"I'll do it for opposition 10s, so I know what I can attack on the pitch. But I don't ever want to do that with team-mates. You get in the horrible mind-set of chasing them. You have to manage your expectations of where you want to go - like Sean Fitzpatrick said, 'be the best you can be'."

Can that competition not act as a perfect sporting stimulus?

"I never want it to become a game of poker. I never want to see his hand and then reveal mine. The stimulus of competition is more through the training. We had a talk from Will Greenwood, and in the team's buddy-system, he was paired up with Mike Catt even when they were vying for the same spot, and it worked for them," explained Flood.

"It is hard, because it's relentless. But you have to accept it's natural. The closer you become to somebody, the more you want to be better than them. That's the beauty of it.

"Having an appreciation of how they're playing is a big difference to worrying about it. Understand it's your game that you control. I can't manage how Fordy's going to play."

Flood has now played through four different England regimes in his six years - Andy Robinson's, Brian Ashton's, Martin Johnson's and now Lancaster's, if we ignore Rob Andrew's two-match interregnum.

Does it make him, if not more cynical, a little more cautious about the brave new world that Lancaster is explicitly trying to create?

"I'm always cynical. No, I think you're less... you become a bit more single-minded. You have a way you want to prepare for a game, so when a new guy comes in you hold that close to your chest for the first couple of weeks.

"You study what they're trying to do, and over time your respect is created by how the team plays. Having been rolled through four managers does make you conscious of, how long is this guy going to be here, do we adhere to everything he wants? Because you never know.

"I've always tried to be as selfless as possible. If the team scores four or five tries and I'm not in any of them, then fantastic. When you're in the team environment in my position, you're trying to make everyone else look as fantastic as possible.

"The selfishness for me comes in when, like today, you train as a team and then I stay out and want to kick and go into my own space, my own environment. I work on my own little bits.

"That's my selfish part. I've got kicking to do, I've got Achilles extensions to do, I've got movement to do. That's when I can detach myself from the squad."

Of the 10 autumn internationals Flood has played, he has won just three. Only one of those victories, the thumping of Australia, came against a top-level side. It is not a statistic he will worry about as he walks out at Twickenham this Saturday.

"What you do as a player is say, this is my level. I sit there. I don't get up when I play well, I don't get down when I play badly.

"You're flat-lining. If you become too emotionally attached to what some people are saying, it just destroys you. It can tear you apart. So one thing I've learned is to take yourself away from it. Totally be honest with yourself and your peers and see how that drives you forward."

Albert Lieven once starred in a film called 'Loser Takes All'. Fifty six years later his grandson may prefer to dip into his grandmother's canon instead over the next four weekends. 'London Belongs To Me'? That would do rather nicely.

I will name the side I think will be facing the Haka and trying to beat them for the first time, and I want you to pick yours too.

Oh, and by the way, what a feeling that would be - beating the All Blacks would be so, so good.

The "Originals", the very first All Blacks, toured the UK in 1905 and according to one of the team members, Billy Wallace (surely a Scottish granny in there?), a newspaper described the team as if playing like "all backs" and with just one small typographical error later we had the All Blacks
.
One "L" of a difference.

But the older I get the more I look at things in terms of my life and although 1905 seems long, long ago it was actually just two of my lifespans. I'm now 54.

In 1905 the All Blacks travelled by boat, with "physical drill" at 7.45am, a morning session with backs and forwards in their own groups, and in the afternoon a variety of drills, including boxing, wrestling and something called the "Sandow developer" to build strength. On their way they dropped into Montevideo and Tenerife.

My kind of boat trip.

They won all their games bar one, against Wales, beating Scotland 12-7 and "West of Scotland" who were effectively Glasgow 22-0. the tallest player was George Nicholson who at 6 feet 3 and 13st 10 was the only player over six feet tall though, after all that training, newspaper reports marvelled a their "impressive physiques".

In 1905 when someone was injured teams continued with fourteen men, players could enter mauls from either side, and defenders were allowed to charge down a conversion from the moment the ball was placed on the ground. Not many conversions were successful unsurprisingly.

Interestingly "football" as it was known at the time was a big game in the USA but a report found that there had been 18 deaths and 149 serious injuries across the country in 1905 and that led to a rethink in the USA with forward passing seen as a means of making the game safer. And "American football" was born.

Ah, the smell of ancient history and winter green hangs powerfully in the nostrils.
But what team will Andy Robinson pick to face the All Blacks?

Well, I think he will be loyal, as far as possible, to the players who brought him success in the Southern Hemisphere.

There were seven uncapped players in the squad and thanks to injuries and religion the front row probably picks itself.

Ryan Grant has developed into the country's best scrummaging loosehead, Ross Ford can concentrate on playing and will be the hooker, and Geoff Cross for my mind is still a great combination of passionate player and ball carrier.

I'd pick Al Kellock in the second row with Richie Gray. Whatever it will be a huge second row with Jim Hamilton the other possible partner to Gray in the boiler house with Gray hopefully over that ankle and the troubles at Sale.

The back row provides a problem. David Denton, for me, was the Scottish player of the Six Nations last season and I am guessing but once you pick your captain, in this case Kelly Brown, you then need to figure out where to pick him.

If David Denton were on fire as he was last year he would be at 8 but there is an argument which says that given Al Strokosh's industry in France and the need for his inclusion that could mean Brown at 8 and Ross Rennie at open side.

For my money I'd go with Denton at 8 with Kelly Brown and John Barclay reunited in the back row.

In the backs Mike Blair has the experience, and Greig Laidlaw is the current stand-off with the blue jersey so I can't another partnership than that.

The centres are trickier to pick, Max Evans may be asked to play there and likewise Nick de Luca and Matt Scott have grown into their centre roles.

It's probably too early for Peter Horne who may have his chance against Tonga.

The All Blacks will be a formidable force and so size could be key further out in the backs. Tim Visser and Sean Lamont - both bigger than the biggest All Black on their 1905 tour - must be in with a shout but Lee Jones has played well for his country and Stuart Hogg could be at fifteen.

The team I'd pick to play the All Blacks is Ryan Grant, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Al Kellock, Richie Gray, Kelly Brown, David Denton, John Barclay, Mike Blair, Greig Laidlaw, Tim Visser, Matt Scott, Max Evans, Sean Lamont, Stuart Hogg.

What's yours? And do you think Scotland can beat the All Blacks for the first time?

I'll get back to that but the predicted articles about Gregor Townsend, the Glasgow Warriors coach, being under pressure are appearing already. He's not actually, athough the entertainment value of the Warriors on Friday night was minimal with a beautiful new stadium contrasting with a game that would have passed an audition for the ugliest sister in Cinderalla. Edinburgh's win though was a beautiful thing and their first in Wales since 2009.

Methinks that Warriors will miss Richie Gray and his power. Having watched the rugby league immediately afterward I wish that rugby union teams would use more passes behind the obvious recipient to help generate width thanks to deception.

Rugby union is becoming far too crash bang (which is for another article) though the games have been improved due to the new scrummage engagement laws. "Crouch, touch, set!" seems to be working.

Back to the main topic and, as the seasons change, the leaves start to fall and you can see your breath, it's interesting that as we get under way in the northern hemisphere, the rugby season at the bottom half of the world nears its end. The Championship, as it's called, has the four great powers of southern hemisphere rugby lined up against each other, with Argentina the new team, as the culmination of their year.

New Zealand won 49-3 at Murrayfield in 2010. Pic: SNS

You may want to argue with me all day but in my opinion southern hemisphere players are better than ours. Some of the most valuable players in French, English, Irish and Scottish teams are, actually, Kiwis, South Africans, Aussies, and a host of Samoans, Fijiians and Tongans.

Why this is the case, who really knows? Perhaps it's to do with the fact that, as water goes down a plug hole, it goes clockwise for them and ant-clockwise for us. Or is that myth? But England being the only northern hemisphere team to win the World Cup in 2003 is the evidence of our inferiority.

And you may not like this but I was glad England won.

So the All Blacks come to Murrayfield this November and that, bizarrely, will be their pre-season tour. The All Blacks are the World Cup holders. What a scalp it would be for Scotland.

After the summer tour where the revitalised Scots beat the Aussies, Samoa and Fiji, I think this is the best chance Scotland will ever have to beat a team like the Kiwis.

Reasons to be cheerful? Andy Robinson has become more ruthless. Skills coach Scott Johnson has brought in some basics to do with each part of a game linking with the other. There is a scrummage that can go forward. And, frankly, the team has to prove it can do it at home.

New Zealanders, I would guess, tour the world and expect to win. We have played the All Blacks 28 times since the first game in 1905, and the highlights for us have been two draws. Imagine that, the highlights are two draws. A no scoring draw in 1964 and twenty 25 points a piece in 1983. Both ancient history for you lot reading this, but I was at the game in 1983.

Worryingly, the record is particularly bad in the last five years with three games against the All Blacks in which we have scored 9 points, all kicks, and the All Blacks have put 121 points past us.

This is all useful knowledge with, in the background, the Scottish Rugby's target in the air. Their target for the Scottish rugby team is to win the next World Cup.

Contrasting our two countries is worthwhile. In New Zealand there are 147,000 players. In Scotland the target was to reach around 40,000 by 2012.

While New Zealand won the recent World Cup, Scotland failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in history.

And yet, and yet, I feel something happening.

The key, to me, is to get the national team together as often as possible before November. Part of the success of the summer tour was the very fact that the team trained together.

After all, what are Edinburgh and Glasgow for other than to prepare players for Scotland?

I don't know about you, but I can't wait for the season to get its momentum.

If ever Scotland has a chance to beat the All Blacks, it's this November. You agree? Dene te, tanga ta, puhuru, huru....

I got a press release through from the SRU. I read it at my desk. Colleagues gathered round. Am I wrong to have a slightly jaded feeling about a strategic plan that says the chief executive Mark Dodson "will unveil ambitious targets of securing a Six Nations Grand Slam by 2016 and winning the World Cup"?

My guess is that the banks had rather silly economic outlook forecasts, all coming from impressively-suited and highly paid individuals, just before the financial crash too and I believe that forecasting anything in this world is a very dangerous business.

Surely forecasts have to be SMART? That means Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.

If I am honest, I have a problem with the Attainable bit. And the Relevant bit.

Scotland finished bottom of the 2012 Six Nations table after five defeats

It all got me scrabbling around. This isn't the first-ever strategic plan. Oh no. The previous SRU strategic plan was written in 2007 for the period from then until now.

Among the targets were to: "Achieve a top-eight world ranking by 2012". Did that happen? No, we slipped to 12th after this year's Six Nations and currently sit ninth after three wins on tour.

I acknowledge that, given 2012 hasn't finished, this one might happen.

Then there was a target to: "As a minimum, reach the quarter-finals of the 2007 and 2011 World Cups." Er, no, we didn't make the last eight in New Zealand. That one was definitely wrong.

Or what about, from the same SRU strategic plan for 2007 to 2012, to: "Improve the win rate in the Six Nations from 25% to 40%". No again. In fact, under Andy Robinson, the win rate is actually 13% at two wins from 15 games, so instead of doubling it, we've halved it. That one was way out.

And one of the other targets was "win the Six Nations at least once by 2012". Nope again.

And it was all topped by the hope that Scotland would "become one of the top rugby nations in the world".

It's not just a Scottish disease this.

The Irish, in their 2008 strategic plan, had as a target "to reach the 2011 World Cup semi-finals". They lost to Wales in the quarter-finals.

The English rugby strategic plan 2008 to 2015 has as one of its targets "to win the World Cup in 2011 and 2015 - and to win the Six Nations four times, including two Grand Slams".

I put it to you, m'Lud, that they have already failed to make their rather ambitious targets. England were beaten by France in the quarter-final in 2011 - and to think they were supposed to win that tournament. Maybe nobody had told the opposition!

The problem is that, as you sit in your room and write down your sporting targets and try to imagine your route to world domination, every other country in the world is trying to get better as well.

You cannot predict how your crop of top players will perform in the future, nor the ability of that particular crop of players. And, if you don't believe me, put yourselves in the place of the All Blacks, who messed up spectacularly in every World Cup between 1987 and 2011.

What do I think? Well, I don't think you can write down targets for elite rugby. Generally, the bigger countries with the bigger systems behind them will be more successful than the smaller ones.

Elite sport is driven by its grass roots. To spell out that you have a target of winning a certain number of Grand Slams or winning a World Cup is mere fantasy. It's grand-standing.

Here's my simple target for Scottish rugby - and it would have a bigger impact on our future than any other: Get every school in Scotland to field rugby teams - backed by the private sector if need be - and get a league up and running.

There, that's mine, nothing about Grand Slams or World Cups. Instead, grow the grass roots and make it competitive.

Yours? Or have I got this all wrong?

Follow John Beattie on Twitter at @BBCJohnBeattie

Isn't confidence the key?

We grow up believing that other sides are bigger, or stronger, or come from bigger rugby countries, and I have used all of those as an argument to explain losing in the past.

But it was Finlay Calder who once said: "Ultimately, it's 15 on 15 so playing depth is irrelevant."

And there is a point to that. Every time Scottish rugby players mingle with opponents it's agreed that our players work the hardest in training when compared to any country.

And yet inside every Scottish rugby player there is a gnawing, teasing, tangible a lack of belief. It's natural. We don't win that often.

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson has won two from two on the summer tour

History tells us, as it did in 1978 with "Ally's Army" and our round ball cousins, that things go terribly wrong most of the time if you think you're favourites.

In fact, because I am Scottish, I'm frightened to read too much into these games. I can, for instance, rationalise the win over Australia as down to weather and a complacent Wallaby team.

I could, by the way, say that Fiji had a shocking set piece, poor defensive set up, and a terrible lineout.

But when you think about it we don't win in Australia or Fiji much so these are very, very significant results.

In a playing sense the games have signalled an improved scrummage for starters. Ryan Grant has provided much needed stability on the loosehead and Euan Murray has done what we all knew he could on the other side.

Interestingly, the Fijian commentator talked about how "intimidating" it was to be out-scrummed by Scotland. And about how the Scottish "bullied" the local boys.

I don't think we ever view ourselves as capable of bullying a bunch of Fijians. It's good to see ourselves as others do.

The second thing I've picked up on is on an improving defensive effort too. In the dying minutes of the game Scottish kicks were chased by a line of blue jerseys.

Line speed was extremely fast. Tackling, perhaps under Scott Johnson, is more abrasive with an attempt to drive the players back.

Another plus is that a proven finisher is in the side. Tim Visser scored two tries on his debut, but frankly that's routine. His first was from a miss- pass by Nick de Luca, but the second was a poacher's try if ever there was one. Coasting ahead of an up-and-under the erratic tap back came from a hapless Fijian and Visser was in.

He is going to be an asset to the team.

And, again in the final minutes, Stuart Hogg brought pace to the proceedings to chase back and thwart a Fiji attack. This is one of the fastest Scottish teams around the pitch, man-for-man, for a while.

Andy Robinson's effect on all of this can't be underestimated. He is a winner.

Oh, and before I finish, the end of the game with both teams gathered together in in one big circle on the pitch is one more reason why I love rugby.

I am confident of that.

Do you agree, is it down to confidence or am I reading too much into two wins on a summer tour?

My favourite tweet read something like: "Skippy, Madge Bishop, Hugh Jackman, the barman in the pub, your boys took a hell of a beating!"

Well done to the Scotland team, it's great to be part of history.

A few things caught my eye in the build-up and then during the game.

The first was the disrespect shown to the Scotland team. Our "little" team was given second-rate status by playing the game midweek and in a far-flung location.

The Scotland team won't say anything, but that will have played a part.

The Scotland players celebrate after their dramatic late win against the Wallabies, the first of three summer Tests. Photo: Getty

And then there were the conditions. The rain teemed down and, even when playing with the wind in the second half, the Aussies seemed incapable of sticking the ball down the pitch and playing for position with any conviction.

But what about Scotland? That was as good a line-out performance as the wily fox Al Kellock will have been part of in some time, and Ryan Grant at loose-head shored up his side of the scrum to great effect on his first cap.

More than that, there was obvious intent. Very early on the lighter Scottish tried to demonstrate that they weren't going to be out-muscled.

There were rolling mauls, a one-pass hit-up game that sat happily with the conditions, little kicks over the top, and a defensive effort that was better than most we had seen in the Six Nations.

The Aussies must have thought that their continual pounding would produce a score, but it didn't. Scotland kept in the game thanks to their simplicity and technique.

Ross Rennie is a one-man perpetual motion machine.

I like the way Scottish players pushed and shoved the Aussies when things slowed down, and the rucking technique was good, with players making ground supported by others and in a driving position.

I also liked the fact that Andy Robinson didn't substitute his players by rote.

Fans may hate them, but scrums are the most important tool in beating a team. A pack that was going well was kept together for the duration, and when Chris Cusiter was brought on his guile helped attract the penalty for Scotland at the end of the game.

I heard someone near me shout "kick for touch" as the game crept into extra time - but the game has always been there for the taking.

Oh, how good it would be to have this kind of performance in the Six Nations.

Yes, it was a predominantly defensive performance, given the relative tackle statistics (the Scots made about three times as many), but it was a win.

And it was aptly summed up by Al Strokosch accidentally head-butting Joe Ansbro on the final whistle.

Two supposedly easier games now face the Scots. New caps like Tom Brown, Matt Scott and Ryan Grant have invaluable experience in their memory banks.

But Fiji and Samoa will be tough in very probably much hotter and drier conditions.

What's that, Skippy? There's been a terrible accident? You bet there has.

You can follow John Beattie on Twitter.

As I write this I am filming for Sport Nation in Duns and we've just edited the rugby section of the programme for Tuesday night (7.30 pm on BBC 2 Scotland) which talks about the "project signings" that I touched on in the last blog.

My old friend and team-mate Jim Calder is the chairman of Edinburgh rugby and he talks of his hopes of competing with some of the best teams in the world by bringing in one or two good players who, after three years, will be eligible to play for us - just like Tim Visser.

It has since transpired that former Scotland stars like Doddie Weir are against it, yet in his new role at Murrayfield in charge of recruitment Sean Lineen's job description will include finding a handful of such "project signings".

For the record, I'm not against it but it has the potential to get out of control.

Edinburgh's Matt Scott will start for Scotland against Australia in New South Wales on Tuesday. Photo: SNS

But back to the tour. I'm excited that the likes of Matt Scott and Ryan Grant are getting their big moments. Both are good players.

Ryan Grant looks to be a tough-as-teak loosehead who doesn't take a backward step, and Jon Welsh could be moved to tighthead. Matt Scott is young and has a future ahead of him as a distributor.

Now, what's acceptable for this tour? I would argue that for Scotland to win one game would constitute success.

Nobody in their right mind would argue that all three need to be won. History tells you that these things don't happen.

I don't accept that we are behind other sides in terms of guile. Oh, you hear backs talk about the lack of cutting edge in Scottish rugby but the truth is that we lack the power in midfield.

We don't have a Jamie Roberts.

Should the team suddenly spark and score tries, then questions will be asked of the new Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend, whose role was to instil such a threat in the national set-up.

I believe that Townsend has been maligned, that he wasn't responsible for Scotland's failure to score tries and that he now has a hard job replicating Glasgow's success.

So, what will I be looking for from Scotland?

Well, if we look as though we have parity at the scrum, mauls, lineouts and breakdown, then the fate of all three games depends on our shape.

Will we threaten to score tries? Will the players look as though they know where they should be? Will there be an eager and capable cutting edge? Can we punch up in midfield?

Will we be as cute as the Welsh, who stand in the defensive line and obstruct and, as we saw in the Barbarians game on Saturday, cleverly hold a player in place when he is trying to get away to ensure that he - in this case Francois Louw - gives away a penalty?

In other words, I'd like to see a cuter and more streetwise Scotland. I keep writing this, but we are one of the countries that appears to play more within the laws than others.

For example, I see Al Strokosch is talking about putting his body on the line in the summer Tests, but I am pretty sure he and his team-mates aren't coached to illegally hold a player down to their advantage.

In fact, if anyone out there can name more than 20 Scottish "cheats" they deserve a prize.

I can't think of one deliberate one: remember, "project signings" are within the rules...

As I say, one win is OK, but more important than the results is getting over the line to score tries.

This is not an easy tour in any sense, and tours, remember, are where reputations are made and lost. I wonder who will come out of this one with his reputation enhanced.

You can follow John Beattie on Twitter.

"I was just 18 when I made my first-team debut," recalls Leicester legend Lewis Moody. "When I walked in, all my heroes were there. 'Deano' stood up and I thought he was going to welcome me to the club. 'Lad', he said, pointing through the door, 'the youth team changing room is down the other end of the corridor.'"

It is a revealing snapshot of the forbidding, clannish culture that has made Leicester the most enduring English team of the professional era and carried them to an eighth successive Premiership final, against Harlequins at Twickenham on Saturday.

"It might sound to outsiders like a horrible place to be, but it draws you closer as a team," says former Tigers lock Ben Kay. "It's not the most comfortable environment to be in. But if you're driven by success, it's exactly where you want to be."

Martin Johnson and Lewis Moody cut loose against great rivals Wasps in 2001

"A player is only at Leicester for a short period of time, on loan almost," says Moody, a World Cup winner in 2003. "It's never your club or your position. The culture is drilled into you as a 14-year-old: no-one is a star and no-one is bigger than the team. Everyone understands you're here to work, you're here to win, and that's the end of it.

"Some players that come through from the Tigers academy are talked up as the next big thing and they've very soon departed because of a lack of application. And some guys that came from other English clubs or from overseas who don't buy into the philosophy will leave quite quickly.

"It's not about bringing in big-name players and buying trophies, they'll create a squad from players that you wouldn't consider to be the best in the world. Look at Geoff Parling: he had been at Newcastle for six years, came to Leicester having had no real recognition and all of a sudden he's an international player. He's a great example of how players can suddenly thrive in the Leicester environment."

"When did Leicester last have a genuine superstar, like a Jonny Wilkinson, a Shane Williams or a Richie McCaw?" says World Cup-winning England scrum-half Matt Dawson, who waged many battles with Leicester for East Midlands rivals Northampton and as part of Wasps' great side of the mid-2000s.

"It's never about that with Leicester, it's just about winning trophies and being part of a winning team. That seems to flick a Leicester player's switch, being more than an individual. And if anyone does step out of line, they get it verbally and physically."

Leicester's feared front row of Rowntree, Cockerill and Garforth

Dawson's views are informed by myriad bar room tales from Leicester pals of training ground spats and legendary, character-testing hazings. "Even if it was a game of touch, you knew at some stage a scuffle would break out," says Moody, who spent 14 years at Welford Road before two years at Bath and retirement in March.

"It was an intimidating environment for a young man but it was about fronting up at every opportunity and not taking a backward step. If someone confronted you, you had to confront them back. It was like a test of your manhood.

"I remember fights between Neil Back and Fritz van Heerden, Julian White and [current Leicester head coach] Richard Cockerill. I didn't really have a fight with 'Johnno', more of a disagreement - he hit me and I fell over.

"One day we were having a ruck and maul session and someone landed on Will Johnson's ankle and broke it. Everybody heard the crack, he was in a lot of bother. 'Wellsy' [John Wells] just moved us about 20 metres to the right and we continued as if nothing had happened. If one player went down, another one came in and replaced him. Nothing ever got in the way of us succeeding."

Kay, who made 281 appearances for the Tigers between 1999 and 2010 and was also part of England's World Cup-winning team, recalls: "It would erupt and there would be no referee to stop it. I never got punched by Johnno. Lewis did, but he was never exactly the brainiest member of the squad.

Teenage fly-half George Ford is part of an exciting back-line at Leicester

"It was like a tempestuous relationship you might have with a sibling that you love more than anything. But if the guys were prepared to do that to each other in training they would do twice as much in a game for each other."

While Revie's Leeds were simply labelled "dirty" by fans of rival teams for their robust style of play, Leicester, as is the way in the sometimes wilfully myopic world of rugby, are rather more charitably lauded as "masters of the dark arts".

"There was always something going on when you played against Leicester," says Dawson. "Darren Garforth, Graham Rowntree and Cockerill - the old 'ABC Club' - wouldn't have finished a game in this present climate, they would have been sin-binned or sent off because of all the little bits and pieces and the niggle.

"And Welford Road is a hell of a place to play rugby, right up there with some international stadiums because it is so oppressive. I only remember winning once or twice at Leicester, it was a very, very intimidating place to go."

What now seems an almost organic connection between players and fans was in actual fact man-made. A succession of wily businessmen and administrators took a side that attracted gates of less than 1,000 in the early 1970s and built it into a forward-thinking, cup-winning amateur outfit before steering it, full-mast, into the professional era.

A compliant council saw Welford Road swell to 24,000 fans by 2009, with another 6,000 seats planned, making it the largest purpose-built club rugby ground in England. Compare with Wasps, nominally of London but who play their home games in Wycombe and whose prospective new owners want to move to a site off the M40.

Financial reasons apart, Kay cites more spiritual reasons as to why Wasps, whose two Heineken Cup triumphs match Leicester's back-to-back victories in 2001 and 2002, have fallen off the pace, to the extent they were nearly relegated last season.

"It's not so much that Wasps were a team of players who thought they were big stars," says Kay, "but they certainly built a team on a lot of very good individuals. When a lot of those players retired there wasn't that natural succession. At Leicester, it's ruthless: as soon as you're not good enough, no matter how big a name you are, it's a case of 'thank-you very much, we'll find someone else who's on the way up'."

While Moody talks of the Leicester ethos and history being "continually churned through", with the likes of Cockerill and executive director and front-row great Peter Wheeler tangible links to a glorious past, Dawson is keen to point out that all that churning serves another purpose, namely to keep the ingredients fresh.

"One of the strengths of Leicester has been their ability to move on," says Dawson. "They can still play that tight game if they want to. But when they want to counter-attack and offload they've got the likes of Geordan Murphy, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Allen, Toby Flood, Ben Youngs, real international-class players.

"They had a couple of years of being a little bit more attritional but they didn't want all their old titles to become history, they wanted to stay in the present and that means a team that plays from 1-15. Conversely, it was plain for everyone to see how Wasps played in their heyday and no-one could stop us. But this year and last, Wasps didn't move on and tried to do the same things they'd done for years and years."

So while Wasps face a period of rebuilding - both literally and metaphorically - Leicester carry on as they always have done: taking the path of Duty to Glory, through "stubborn thistle, bursting into glossy purples". Or as Cockerill puts it: "Just hard work." Prose over poetry, spoken like the Leicester front-row he was and always will be.

It may have a been a hot topic among the blue hordes trooping deliriously out of Twickenham, after seeing their heroes win an unprecedented third European title in four years.

But it wasn't a question occupying the minds of the players who had just delivered a record-breaking margin of victory in the final of rugby's most passionately charged club competition.

No doubt when they reflect on their season's work a week on Monday, and start to contemplate what next year might hold, they might be persuaded to indulge in a little fantasy.

A 'home' Heineken Cup final at Dublin's Aviva Stadium, the possibility of equalling Toulouse's record haul of four titles. The perfect motivation to re-scale the heights?

For the next seven days at least though, the need to confirm their status as the best team in the RaboDirect Pro 12 league, having finished top by 10 points after the regular season, will be the prime goal, with the Ospreys awaiting them in next Sunday's final at their Royal Dublin Showground home.

Last year Leinster followed up their remarkable Heineken Cup victory over Northampton by losing to provincial rivals Munster in the final of their domestic competition. It didn't go down well.

"We have an opportunity now to do something special," said full-back Rob Kearney, as if their five-try, record 42-14 dismantling of Ulster, did not deserve such consideration.

"We have worked really hard in the 'Rabo' [Pro 12] this year, it has been a full squad effort. If we can achieve that win, it could be more of a testament to Leinster rugby than this week."

And therein perhaps lies the secret of their success, and why it is likely to continue.
Leinster have used 49 players in their domestic campaign. The tremendous strength in depth of the local talent coming through, blended into a thriving and successful structure, allows the top-of-the-bill acts like Kearney to take a rest periodically, and peak for the big occasions.

But the big names appreciate the hard yards done in their absence, and want to do their bit in return.

But let's just consider "this week" first.

Saturday's stunning rout - which was harsh on Ulster, but a rout nonetheless - means that since the start of the 2008-2009 season, Leinster have won 28 and drawn two of their 35 Heineken Cup matches, losing only one - to Toulouse in the 2010 semis - in the knock-out stages.

Since losing to Clermont away in the group stages last season, they are undefeated in their last 15 Heineken matches, winning 14 of them.

Statistically, Toulouse remain out front, with four titles from six finals. But strangely, the game in which the French aristocrats lifted the spirits most was in one of the finals they lost to Wasps in 2004.

That was perhaps the last time Twickenham witnessed such an uplifting brand of attacking rugby from a club side, with due respect to the demolition job Wasps did on Leicester in 2007.

Wasps, with a 100% record from their two Heineken finals, also had a completeness about them in terms of power, tactical nous and cussedness, but perhaps not quite the same attacking brio.

Munster made the knock-out stages for 12 years in a row from 2000, winning two of their four finals, and reaching five other semi-finals, a phenomenally consistent sequence.

Leicester, whose five finals are second only to Toulouse, were the only previous side to have successfully defended the trophy.

But Leinster are rapidly re-defining the boundaries of ambition for Europe's leading club sides.

When it was put to coach Joe Schmidt that his charges had perhaps converted every try-scoring opportunity they created (their five tries was another final record), it wasn't a prospect the genial New Zealander seemed comfortable with.

"I'm happy we got five tries, but I'll have to look at the video. I'm sure I'll find something," he said.

This relentless pursuit of perfection and improvement means it is unlikely the "dynasty" that Brian O'Driscoll alluded to afterwards will end anytime soon.

Ulster, for their part, were as defiant after the match as they had been for large parts during it. They had their chances to make it a closer game, but didn't take them.

Against Leinster - "If you give them an inch, they take a mile; they are an exceptional rugby side," noted Brian McLaughlin, ruefully - that proved fatal.

The departing coach was insistent the players he bequeaths - if such a term is appropriate when you have been removed from your post - to New Zealander Mark Anscombe will learn sufficiently swiftly to "make sure that days like this are the norm for Ulster rugby, not the exception."

With two former Ulster players - Lions wing Tommy Bowe and Northampton number eight Roger Wilson - returning to the ranks next season, they should be stronger. This may not have been their only shot at glory.

It is only natural a player nurtured in the culture of a particular club or province has a particular interest in seeing that team become successful, as Leinster captain Leo Cullen - the first man to lift the Heineken Cup three times - alluded to.

"I was at Leicester for a while and I learnt a huge amount and I loved playing for them," he said. "But there is something special about playing for a team that you grew up supporting. To have success with this team means the most to me."

Were Ulster naïve to think they could take Leinster on at their own game and win?

Most observers felt the underdogs' best hope of victory lay in making it a dogfight.
The trouble is, Leinster - as they showed in their semi-final win against Clermont in Bordeaux - are not the sort of side to be bullied into submission.

As soon as it became apparent that Ulster were keen to play an expansive game themselves, there looked to be only winner, and so it proved.

Ulster's high-tempo attacking game put them under pressure for periods, but crucially - Dan Tuohy's second-half try aside when they were already 24-9 up - Leinster's scramble defence was equal to it.

Would a predominantly territorial kicking game have proved any more successful? As McLaughlin noted, when Leinster have Rob Kearney and Isa Nacewa as their gate-keepers, both superb under the high ball and devastating on the counter-attack, why would you play to their strengths?

And then of course, they have Brian O'Driscoll. This latest addition to his growing legend came eight days after he "had a little cartilage trimmed" from his knee. Wouldn't a coach be within his rights to question whether his prized centre could really be 100% fit, given such a limited recovery time?

"The fact he is so mentally tough means you don't have to get too concerned about him," Schmidt told BBC Sport. "You just know he is going to turn up and play."
A bit like Leinster themselves.

And right now, they are playing better than anyone else in Europe has possibly ever done.

When I was a kid growing up in Malaysia a trip to the UK seemed a lifetime away. Rather, it was a boat trip across the Indian ocean, up through the Suez canal, over the length of the Mediterranean, and then up a short section of the Atlantic Ocean to Southampton and a train trip to Glasgow via London.

It took weeks.

Nowadays a 12-hour plane trip gets you from Kuala Lumpur to London, cooped up in a cabin breathing everyone else's air.

Edinburgh's Dutch wing Tim Visser has been given a call-up to the Scotland squad. Pic: SNS.

The point I am making is that people move around the world more easily than they used to. Or rather, the majority do as the greater part of the world's history is tied up with the movement of people looking for pastures, food, territory or water.

And that's probably had a role to play in the eligibility of people to represent a country when it comes to sport.

Saracens' South African number eight Ernst Joubert is the latest to declare himself available to England if they wish to field him as he becomes eligible this June. He follows the recent English additions like Mouritz Botha and Manu Tuilagi.

In Scotland in the past we have fielded David Hilton, who despite believing his grandfather was Scottish actually had no Scottish qualifications, Budge Pountney, who could choose his county as he was from the Channel Islands, and more recently Matt Mustchin, the New Zealander who played for Edinburgh and qualified on residency rules.

And going back to ancient history if you believe that you have to be born in a country to play for it then I never qualified to play for Scotland - Borneo stopped being a suburb of Glasgow a long time ago.

So, a bit of introspection from me: My father reminded me often that I was Scottish. Both my parents were from Glasgow. That was never in doubt. But, as I was born in what is now Malaysia, I think I would have liked to represent Malaysia. It's a beautiful country and there is something about where you are born that tugs at your heart.

My grandfather was South African. Er, I'd never have been good enough for the Springboks your honour.

But what if I'd moved to the USA aged 25 and then lined up against Scotland aged 28? Could I really have lined up against my own country if the USA were to take on Scotland?

Can I be honest? I'm from a different generation so it would have been difficult. I'm just not sure I could have done it. But there's a new breed of professional rugby player who is loyal, with immediate effect, to the club that pays him.

And, let's face it, if you're not good enough for the Springboks or New Zealand you are probably still good enough, in some cases, to play for Scotland.

And that probably applies in national terms as well. The more countries you live in as a rugby player, the less you are tied to the very first country you experienced.

Where I see this all becoming a problem is if countries start offering school scholarships to promising players from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and perhaps even to a lesser extent New Zealand and South Africa before they play for their own countries.

I have no issue with it at professional level as in the case of Edinburgh's recent signing of the Free State's WP Nel, a promising prop who is on the fringe of the Springbok set-up but who will be able to play for Scotland in three years.

But if it ever becomes a full blown national strategy with schools involved then, frankly, count me out.

A nightmare scenario would be national strategies with future teams full of 20-somethings who were brought to Scotland (or England or any other country) in their teens and who mean that there are no places for players with firmer links.

So, good luck to Tim Visser, a plainly decent bloke. I've interviewed him a few times and he says directly that he's not Scottish but he also says how proud he is to play for his adopted country.

I find it hard to put myself in his shoes, I don't believe I could play for a country with which I have no real tie other than having lived in it for three years but, as they say, rules are rules and the world gets smaller and smaller.

I say it's acceptable - unless it becomes a widespread national strategy.

What do you think?

John presents Sport Nation on TV and radio for BBC Scotland.

Follow those programmes on Twitter: @BBCSportNation

You can also follow John: @BBCJohnBeattie

Leinster, aiming for a third title in four years to join Toulouse as the only other team to have won it more than twice, start favourites against Ulster, who triumphed back in 1999.

BBC Sport has taken the opinions of two former Ireland captains - Phillip Matthews (38 caps from 1984 to 1991 and an ex-Ulster flanker) and Keith Wood (58 caps from 1994 to 2003 and a Heineken Cup finalist with Munster in 2000) - for some insight into Saturday's proceedings.

Two former winners from the two provinces - Ulster's 1999-winning full-back Bryn Cunningham and Leinster lock Malcolm O'Kelly, who played in their 2009 triumph, also weigh in with their thoughts.

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So, an all-Irish final... how did that happen?

Well, it's no surprise Leinster are here again. They are a team of all talents, they finished top of the Pro 12 league by 10 points, and they play some of the finest attacking rugby to be found anywhere in the world.

They can also slug it out with the best of them, as they showed in winning a pulsating semi-final over French giants Clermont Auvergne in Bordeaux.

Ulster, it's fair to say, were not being tipped by many at the outset, despite reaching the last eight a year ago for the first time since 1999.

They came through a very tough group which included Leicester and Clermont, stunned two-time champions Munster in their Limerick fortress in the quarter-finals, and held off Edinburgh in a tight semi-final in Dublin to make it through.

How come the Irish sides have become so dominant in Europe?

Certainly a fifth Irish winner in the last seven years - whoever prevails on Saturday - suggests they are doing something right.

A variety of reasons have been put forward, ranging from player management, lack of relegation in the Pro 12 allowing teams to develop a more expansive style, the influence of some innovative Antipodean coaches, to the essential 'spirit' of the provinces.

Irish players certainly play fewer matches in a season than their English counterparts slugging it out in the Premiership, allowing them to rest at certain times and peak for the Heineken Cup.

"In England, clubs are king. In Ireland, country is king, and the country has control of the Heineken Cup teams, because they contract the players, so it is a very different structure," observes Matthews, who nevertheless gives short shrift to the notion that English and French clubs, who provided nine out of the first 10 European champions, are now at a disadvantage.

"I don't buy this theory about the over-intensity of the English season and relegation stopping teams from playing a certain way. I think it comes down to attitude and the tradition of each country.

"England have had quite size-orientated, forward-based teams, since the days of Will Carling's side, and they feel they have to play to their strengths. To a large extent, successful teams in the Premiership, like Leicester, still play that way.

"But if someone matches you physically, what do you do then? If you haven't had to find that something extra in the Premiership, you can't suddenly find it in Europe. To be successful in Europe now, you have to play more of a 15-man game, as Leinster have."

Leinster beat Northampton Saints in last year's Heineken Cup final. Photo: Getty

A few blue-chip imports can't do any harm either?

As well as a fine group of locally-produced players led by the thunderous Stephen Ferris, Ulster have benefited hugely from the influence of an All Blacks prop (John Afoa) and a quartet of Springboks: full-back Stefan Terblanche, lock Johann Muller, number eight Pedrie Wannenburg and scrum-half Ruan Pienaar, the latter kicking 14 points in the quarter-final and 17 in the semi.

"Pienaar is just the calmest man in the world," says Wood. "He is slotting kicks from 55m and banging them 20 yards over the bar. He just doesn't seem to feel the pressure."

Cunningham adds: "He is probably the most humble guy you will ever come across, for one of the best players in the world. He has no airs or graces, despite what he has achieved, and gives time to all the young players coming through. On and off the pitch he has been outstanding for Ulster."

Leinster have also recruited wisely. Wallaby flanker Rocky Elsom was the star of their first Heineken triumph in 2009 before returning to Australia. This year, needing an experienced lock as cover while captain Leo Cullen recovered from surgery, they turned to All Black Brad Thorn, who at 37 will become the oldest player to feature in a Heineken Cup final.

"They wanted to make certain they got a leader, and a heavy ball-carrier with a big work-rate, and that is what they got," says Wood. "New Zealanders in particular can have such an influence on the younger guys." Adds O'Kelly: "Watching him lately, I think he is getting better as he gets older."

Why are so many pundits purring about Leinster?

Former England centre Will Greenwood described the first 45 minutes of their quarter-final win over Cardiff Blues, in which they racked up four tries and a 34-3 lead, as "absolute brilliance". Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin calls them a "smashing rugby side".

"Because it is a less structured system where individuals use their own inventiveness, it is difficult to play against and you can't over-analyse it, because they are likely to pull something else off that you haven't planned for," says Matthews.

"They have reached a sort of rugby nirvana, which perhaps only New Zealand, and lately Wales, have reached, where it looks like it has all been thrown together and everyone is doing their own thing. But it's all done within a particular system."

Ruan Pienaar kicked five penalties and a conversion in the 22-19 semi-final win over Edinburgh. Photo: Getty

Doesn't sound like Ulster have much of a chance then?

Not necessarily, if you listen to coach McLaughlin, for whom Saturday could be a bitter-sweet final game in charge, having been told mid-season that he is being replaced by unheralded New Zealander, Mark Anscombe, next season.

"We are not going to Twickenham to make up the numbers. We are going to make sure we perform and show we are a quality side as well," he says.

Recent meetings between the two sides don't bode well for Ulster though. Their last win came in October 2009, while Leinster have won the last five, including home and away for the last two seasons.

"Psychologically, that is probably the biggest battle for Ulster," says Cunningham. "If they are going to win, it is not just on the pitch but in their minds before the game."

But once they get on to the Twickenham turf, will their renowned defence be able to cope with Leinster's all-singing, all-dancing attack?

"I don't think they can shut them out completely," says Matthews. "They can't afford to think they can squeeze the life out of them and score penalties to win it. They will have to score tries as well. They can put Leinster under pressure and make them doubt themselves.

"But I think Leinster have too many leaders - Brian O'Driscoll, Brad Thorn, Jamie Heaslip, Gordon D'Arcy, Jonny Sexton - who can pick it up when they need to. I can't see Ulster suppressing that."

O'Driscoll? We haven't even mentioned him yet. Didn't he have an operation last week?

A little trim of the knee cartilage apparently, although most mortals wouldn't contemplate playing in a major final eight days later.

"As soon as he came out of the hospital he said, 'I am playing'," says Wood. "I played with him and the great thing about him, even as young man, was that if he declared himself fit, he was fit enough. If he wasn't fit, he was man enough not to play."

So more glory for BoD and Leinster beckons then?

"I would fully expect Leinster to win," says O'Kelly. "They are overwhelming favourites but that brings a certain weight on the shoulders."

Wood concurs. "It should be Leinster's title again. But if Ulster turn up and Leinster are not quite up to the mark, it could be very tight."

And BoD's thoughts? "You realise that when you get to a final, all bets are off. Anything can happen."

The last few weeks of rugby have been magnificent.

The English premiership has reached it's climax, the French clubs have been going at it like mad things on obscure satellite channels, and both Glasgow and Edinburgh have done special things in the league and cup respectively.

Ulster, or as should now call them "the Springboks", have played great rugby and they fill one half of a Heineken Cup final - otherwise known as a pint - and take on Leinster who contained 13 Ireland qualified players the last time the sides met.

And it was while sitting in the Aviva stadium in Dublin as Ulster prepared to play Edinburgh that I tried to analayse why I was enjoying it so much.

The answer? Partly it's because the games were good. Some of the top club games now are as good, if not better, than internationals. But the main reason: There was no phoney, ritualised, and carefully choreographed war going on before the match.

Oh the Italian anthem is wonderful, as is the French, but analysis of the others is worth while.

The Welsh national anthem, in all its admitted glory, was written just three of my lifetimes ago in the mid 1800's by father and son Evan and James James of Pontypridd.

Our sporting anthem, Flower of Scotland, was written in 1967 by Roy Williamson of the folk group the Corries, Ireland's "Four Proud Provinces' was penned as recently as 1995 by Phil Coulter whose earlier successes included Sandie Shaw's "Puppet on a string" and "Congratulations" for Cliff Richard, while God Save the Queen lays claim to be the oldest coming from the mid 1700s and written by Thomas Augustine Arne.

Those of you who know me know that I love music, and play in a rock band myself, deafening people all all over Scotland in the process.

But the more international matches I go to, the less inclined I am to watch jingoistic behaviour and sing at the same time, tears rolling down my cheeks, to relatively modern tunes.

Maybe it's because I am always stone cold sober at the time.

I suppose it's all wrapped up in the question: What exactly is international rugby? Is it, for instance, a strange substitute for an annual war at pre-defined locations?

Maybe that's why we wear blue, the others wear their colours, and we start with the rituals.

First of all we beat our drums, play our national music - the bagpipes in our case - and then we sing our anthems as loudly as we can at each other, hoping, no doubt, for some fear-inducing sentiment to travel across the pitch.

It's a replacement for an aerial bombardment of some kind. Or flag waving from a distant hill.

Oh and there have been some terrible foul ups in the past.

The French band in Paris playing the wrong sheet of music by mistake, the PA system not working at age group games, and the obligatory opera singer taking it all to a level, or key, that we can never reach.

Each country has some military input too, though not, admittedly, at a level anywhere near that of your average US sporting occasion.

The rugby players in the Six Nations, then, are the stand-in soldiers. Sent out there to kick lumps out of each other but within certain rules, and all for their country.

And, as they listen to the anthems, lined up in front of us, their right hands cross their chests to clutch their national emblem - sewn into the jersey to cover the heart - and some of them break down and cry in the process or make aggressive faces.

Now, I'm not convinced by all this behaviour. Having been out there a few times I remember the stress, but every player asks himself: "How am I supposed to behave, and what does the crowd expect me to do here?"

So those who feel angry faces are required put on angry faces, and the rest of what you see, aside from outright fear and floods of tears, is a bit of an act.

The beauty of the big games I've been to see recently has been in their lack of pre-match ceremony.

At the Aviva for Ulster's game against Edinburgh there were no dignitaries, many of whom haven't a clue about rugby but feel they need to be seen, sent out to shake hands.

No great big military bands playing their old tunes, and no national anthems.

Instead the players came out, warmed up, went back inside while we were entertained to some dancing on the pitch, came back out and got stuck right into each other.

I liked that. I liked the lack of jingoism, of nationalism, of tribal rivalry.

I liked it being a game. A sporting event. It wasn't a substitute for war. There were no national anthems. The modern world is ever more international, why do we bay our national anthems at each other?

But then again, you probably disagree. Do we really need national anthems at rugby internationals?