Interview: Ken Scotland, legendary full-back

• Ken Scotland, pictured in action against Ireland at Murrayfield, is keen for Scotland players to use open space more to their advantage Picture: TSPL

At one stage the Scottish comedian Rory Bremner reckoned that Scotland were leading 26-0 in tries in the 'game' he was watching. In a fascinating event, most of the current Scotland squad sat transfixed alongside internationalists with grey hair, needing sticks now to walk or, like Ken Scotland, who, at 74, looks similar to the fit stripling he was when he terrified opponents by breaking into the Scottish or Lions' threequarter line.

Scotland was one of the 12 inductees into the new 'Hall of Fame' and while he admitted to a bit of a 'grumpy old man' syndrome, in that he believed recognising individuals from what is a team game was always invidious, he was immensely humbled to be among the first crop of players, coaches and, in the case of the peerless Bill McLaren, commentators to be duly inducted.

However, of more interest was his assertion that people tend to believe that it is only now, in the professional game, that great minds worked to develop tactics, and that his generation "just turned up and played".

Yesterday, we pursued this further and Scotland, who remains an avid analyst of the modern game, a student still of internationals around the world from the comfort of his armchair, while not trying to play to his golf handicap of ten at Bruntsfield, explained how he believed the current squad had the ability to be a dangerous attacking side if they could learn more about attacking space.

Scotland was famous for his desire to attack space as a player in the 1950s and 60s, changing the game with the idea of the full-back coming into the threequarter line, and going on to become a British and Irish Lions favourite and an opponent highly respected by the All Blacks.

As New Zealand prepare to launch their UK tour at Twickenham this afternoon, and fly to Scotland tomorrow, the former full-back said: "They and Australia are a step above everyone else at the moment, I think, because of the way they can attack space and exploit it.

"It was a great night at Murrayfield, a great success and very humbling, and great to see the current players there. I am hopeful of a great game when New Zealand arrive here next week.

"Rugby has always been a game where defences can come out on top. If you have highly competitive games, it's very easy to see the negative, cut out risk-taking and be prepared to go for the 6-3 win.

"The difference at the moment is that the All Blacks and the Australians are not prepared to do that.

"I like what we're seeing, too, from Andy Robinson and Gregor Townsend, and I know from speaking to Gregor that they want to us to be more ambitious. I think we have the raw material to be an extremely good side.

"But, for me," he continued, "it's about what we do in space. In the Welsh game last season we missed some glaring opportunities by not doing the straightforward thing on two-on-ones.

"The modern players are very good rugby players, much stronger, fitter and faster than we were. But, and this is only a theory, I think the modern players are much better in tight situations, very good at off-loading ball and shielding the ball, but don't seem to be comfortable with space.

"I feel that when many of them get into space they are so used to playing such a claustrophobic game that they don't actually know what to do next, and that is the key to being a dangerous side."

We spoke of the great example of Richie Gray, the young Glasgow lock who is in line to play against New Zealand, and his wonderful try against the Ospreys a fortnight ago, and Scotland agreed that that was a fine example of a player stepping out of a planned move and doing what he felt was right.

"That was brilliant and I also think someone like Chris Paterson sees gaps and is capable of taking advantage of them. It's becoming more difficult to be a free spirit."

However, Scotland is known for being just that, and the full-back intrusion stemmed as much from his active brain as it did from sheer attacking lan. He grew up as a stand-off and wanted to play like Jackie Kyle, the great Ireland and British and Irish Lions pivot, so when he came to play full-back he started "with a fresh canvas".

"A lot happens by accident. We had a useful team when I was at Catterick that won the Army Cup, and we had a good stand-off from Newbridge, Gethin Evans. He had to play full-back because I was the incumbent stand-off but we did moves with him taking the ball direct from stand-off going blind to use him.

"The game was pretty stereotyped immediate post-war. Ball tended to go along the threequarter line to the wing who would have a go at beating his opposite number, and then it would come back all the way along.

"Then, at Cambridge [University] we had time to train in daylight, which was impossible for most clubs, to develop handling skills and moves.

"In the beginning it was the full-back coming outside the outside centre to make it a two-on-one with the winger, but the ball had to go through four pairs of hands to get to me, which relied on everyone buying into it, so it wasn't always successful.

"It worked well in some games against poor opposition and then we scored a classic try against Oxford in 1958 with it. At international level, the best I remember was in the 1961 game against Wales when Arthur Smith scored. We actually had scrappy ball, but I knew that Arthur would stay outside as long as he could and the Welsh full-back Terry Davies [the Wales captain] would never buy a dummy so I came through on a line as far from the touch as possible and ran right up to him, before passing to Arthur.

"It has been great to see it develop and be less of a move, more down to timing, particularly in loose play, as we saw with the try Chris Paterson scored against Leinster last weekend, where he nipped in from full-back and took it straight from the scrum-half. Perfect."

Some may be tempted to suggest that Scotland simply does not produce players like Scotland any more, but he points to changes in the game and remains passionate in his belief that space is still out there if players are prepared to think adroitly, and work on skills to exploit it, as he did 50 years ago. The time to have a go could not be better than when New Zealand are the opposition next Saturday.