It's nothing new these days for New Zealand coaches to prepare teams from other countries to play against the All Blacks.
John Mitchell (England), Robbie Deans (Australia), Alex Wyllie (Argentina), John Kirwan (Japan), Bryan Williams (Samoa) and Brad Johnstone (Fiji) are among those who have.
It's nothing new, either, for former Otago players to play for Scotland. John Leslie and Brendan Laney both have, with distinction.
But, when former Otago captain Mike Brewer takes his place in the Scotland coaches' box at Murrayfield tomorrow morning, it will evoke special memories among the province's rugby fans.
He captained Otago for the first time as a 20-year-old in 1985 and for the last time in the national championship final against Waikato in Hamilton in 1992.
He was destined for rugby greatness but it eluded him. Put simply, he was a thoroughbred among rugby players who broke down too often, and invariably at the wrong time.
Various leg injuries plagued him at crucial stages in his career. Fully fit, he was a ruthless loose forward who held nothing back.
He was earmarked for leadership by coach Laurie Mains from the moment he left his home town of Pukekohe to study at the University of Otago.
He made his test debut against France in Christchurch in 1986 and scored the only try in the Baby Blacks' famous 18-9 win.
It was an indication of his commitment that he was back at Carisbrook the next day to captain Otago against Taranaki.
He gave it everything but he had under-estimated the mental and physical energy he had expended the previous day and Otago lost 14-15.
It was a lesson from which he learnt.
He played all six tests in 1986 and was a certainty for the 1987 World Cup before he was ruled out because of injury.
There was even more disappointment four years later when, having been selected as vice-captain for the 1991 World Cup, he was subjected to a rigorous examination on his heel and was controversially declared unfit by a medical panel.
Wyllie, the All Black coach, was furious but there was a silver lining for Otago when Brewer became available for the championship campaign.
He came off the bench against Wellington at Athletic Park to prolonged applause and, 10min from the end, he wrong-footed the defence and raced 30m for a sensational, match-clinching try.
The Wellington fans, forgetting their parochialism, gave him a prolonged ovation. They clearly sensed an injustice.
The next week Brewer captained Otago to a 26-10 win over North Harbour at Carisbrook as Otago won the national title for the first time.
The enduring memory is of Richard Knight, who captained Otago 12 times that year, and Brewer together holding aloft the trophy in the front row of the old wooden main stand.
When Mains became All Black coach in 1992, Brewer was clearly earmarked to take over the captaincy from Gary Whetton but he was injured early in the season and the job went instead to Sean Fitzpatrick, who retained it until the end of 1997.
Brewer's role became that of an influential, senior player and he finally made it to a World Cup in 1995, playing at blindside flanker in the extra-time final loss to the Springboks at Ellis Park.
Despite his injuries, Brewer played 61 games, and 32 tests for the All Blacks, and 93 matches for Otago in an era when there was strong competition for places.
Brewer had to compete against Wayne Shelford, Zinzan Brooke and Michael Jones for the All Black jersey while, in 1991, Otago could choose a loose trio from Brewer, Paul Henderson, Brent Pope, Arran Pene and Jamie Joseph.
Brewer was regarded by many as detached and a little aloof but few questioned his leadership qualities.
I found him good to deal with - a professional in attitude long before professionalism.
But now he's on the other side on the fence and it will be fascinating to observe whether he can coax the Scots out of the defeatist attitude they have invariably had whenever they have confronted the All Blacks.
