Reference has frequently been made down the years to one of Ian McGeechan's more astute observations - the one in which he referred to New Zealanders as Scotsmen who have learned how to win.

It was, then, with more optimism than I'd had for many years prior to matches against the All Blacks, that I headed for Murrayfield last Saturday, believing that for once the visitors might have overplayed their hand in showing their hosts so little regard that they had made 15 changes to the team that squeezed past England while believing they could still maintain their record of never having lost to Scotland.

That mood was heightened by having had a couple of chats this season with Sean Lineen, the original 'kilted Kiwi', who had been recruited by McGeechan to bring quality of decision making and composure to the Scottish midfield when our last Grand Slam was won back in 1990 and who went on to become a very successful coach.

This son of an All Black had expressed considerable respect for Vern Cotter, his compatriot who is now Scotland's head coach and, given that Lineen remains the most astute rugby analyst in our game, that alone invoked confidence.

My positivity was supplemented, too, by the memory of the contribution of John Leslie - performing a similar role to that of Lineen nine years earlier - his brother Martin and other Kiwi recruits including Glenn Metcalfe, to Scotland's last Five Nations Championship win way back in 1999, around the time Adam Ashe was starting primary school.

The evidence suggests that given access to the knowhow and belief of those who have learned how to win, the performance of Scots.

That the team was being led by Greig Laidlaw, a member of a great Scottish rugby dynasty, further reinforced the sense that the time to make history may be upon us.

Partly because he is the nephew of Roy, whose contribution to the second of Scotland's three Grand Slams can never be understated, Laidlaw did not lack goodwill when he arrived in professional rugby and he has only generated additional admiration for having, like his uncle, worked relentlessly to find a way of battling past gifted rivals to become a Scotland regular.

All of which only intensified the sense of disappointment generated not so much by events on the field on Saturday as by those immediately after it.

Laidlaw had, of course, missed the kick with 10 minutes to go that would have put Scotland ahead and changed the dynamic of the game.

There were many inexperienced All Blacks out there and, as their coach Steve Hansen would acknowledge afterwards, they, too, know the history. Not one of them would have wanted to be part of the first New Zealand team to lose to Scotland and the pressure that would have applied would have buoyed the home support and generated an atmosphere that might have intensified it further.

Instead he missed and the best chance Scottish players may have of overcoming the All Blacks' hold on them, had gone.

So to the post-match debrief and the opportunity for players and management to give their assessment.

In the context of the chance that had been lost there was one clear talking point which was the vital nature of the miss by the team captain.

The question, when it came, was raised as kindly as it could be, almost deferentially.

Even so, as stated, I both like and respect Laidlaw, so I was slightly disappointed that rather than instantly accept the responsibility that comes with such opportunities 'wee Greeg', as he is universally known, seemed to attempt to shrug it off as merely the sort of thing that happens in matches.

That, however, presented an opportunity for a tough-nosed head coach to deliver a message by permitting the man he had chosen to lead his team, to feel the pain . . . a time to keep his own counsel.

Instead, Vern Cotter leaned forward, and the chastising tone was as worrying as the intervention, and said: "That's a pretty tough question."

Maybe so, but it was one that needed to be asked and answered properly and I could not help but think back to a couple of very rare days in my career during which I have reported on some 25 All Black Tests on three continents.

The occasions in question happened in 1999 and 2003, the only times I have seen them lose. The aftermath of those defeats, in World Cup semi-finals in London and Sydney was brutal, both in terms of the media interrogation and the career consequences for the head coaches involved, John Hart and John Mitchell.

Cotter has, however, been in Europe for a long time and his reputation has soared in certain quarters in spite of repeated defeats in major finals and semi-finals, something that would never be tolerated in his native country.

On top of that, he now finds himself in a place where press and public have become pitifully reluctant to call to account those earning huge salaries for playing and running the game.

He would not be human if he was not tempted to use that to make life easier for himself and those working for him.

Yet the idea of those who recruited Cotter to pursue their stated strategy of winning the World Cup next year was surely that for the first time Scotland's rugby fortunes would be in the hands of someone - as McGeechan identified - a 'Scot' who has learned how to win.

My concern, then, based on Cotter's handling of that very gentle questioning on Saturday evening, is that, instead of embracing the opportunity presented to him, he may be in danger of doing no more than maintaining the status quo.