The image of drouthy Australian players with their noses pressed dolefully against the windows of Edinburgh's watering holes is just too exquisite to resist, but you suspect that Ewen McKenzie would dispense swift and severe retribution on any of his charges if he caught them so much as casting a glance towards any of the premises that have lately been declared off limits.

McKenzie came into the job of Australia head coach last July with a track record as a strict disciplinarian and will return to his native shores at the end of the tour with that reputation well enhanced. But while some have viewed his decision to ban six players and reprimand nine others for hitting the Dublin grog a little too hard last week as a cunning tactical move, a way of nailing down his authority early on, those who know him well suggest McKenzie's actions came straight from the heart, expressing indignation that anyone could take their responsibilities as a Wallaby so lightly.

He, certainly, was never guilty of that throughout a seven-year Test career in which he made his reputation as one of the world's best props, accrued 51 caps and enjoyed his finest moment of all on a bright November day at Twickenham in 1991 when he helped the Wallabies beat England 12-6 and claim the World Cup.

His international playing days ended, rather fittingly, against the same opponents six years later with another win, allowing him to walk away from the Test arena with a success rate of just over 75%.

Those numbers were helped by the fact his only loss against any of the British Isles teams was to England, in the quarter-finals of the 1995 World Cup. It was a rich era for Australian rugby, for the Wallabies would go on to reclaim the Webb Ellis trophy in 1999. Small wonder that he reflects only on that time, and the lessons it taught him.

The most important of those, he explained yesterday after naming his side to face Scotland tomorrow, concerns the construction of dominant teams. He would put them into action when he led the New South Wales Waratahs to the Super Rugby title in 2005, then repeated the feat when he took charge of the Queensland Reds, transforming the perennial strugglers into the 2011 champions.

Given that background, it was inevitable McKenzie's name would be touted around whenever an international coaching vacancy became vacant. He had demonstrated a degree of wanderlust when he took the reins at Stade Francais for two brief (and rather mixed) seasons, but the inside track was that the only country he wanted to coach was his own one. When Robbie Deans stood down in the wake of the Lions defeat, McKenzie inherited the role.

He also inherited a side that had grown used to Deans' laissez-faire ways. Arguments will rage over whether the Wallabies had a drinking culture, but after high-profile incidents involving Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor, there was never much danger that anyone would mistake them for a temperance society. McKenzie, clearly, had a job on his hands.

Now, though, having made his position clear, it is time to turn to other things. There is the small matter of plotting the defeat of Scotland tomorrow, and the rather larger one of earning Australia the distinction of becoming the first side to lift the World Cup three times when the tournament returns to England in 2015.

At the moment, the Wallabies hold fourth place in the world rankings, but McKenzie believes the key to improving that station and become genuine contenders again lies in the approach once taken by Bob Dwyer, the coach behind their 1991 win.

"Teams that do well in World Cups need to have a bunch of good players going well," McKenzie explained. "I stole the philosophy from Bob Dwyer way back: if you want to compete at that level and be in a World Cup then you've got to have five world-class players in your team.

"In other words, when people talk about a World XV you've got to have five players who have got to be in that discussion. That's a challenge for all of us. Every team wants to get that and the only way to get it is to get them in the right environment. Some people find that they are at their best at the highest level."

A glance at the Australia team of today suggests that only two or three might trouble the Planet Earth XV selection committee. But that number could change quickly if Australia start to build a head of steam. Remarkably, they had not managed to string two consecutive victories together since last year's European tour until they returned to the northern hemisphere a few weeks ago. Now, with wins against Italy and Ireland, they are looking for a hat trick at Murrayfield.

As, indeed, are the Scots, who have won their last two meetings with Australia.

On paper, it should be an easy victory for the Wallabies, but McKenzie has had to pick an entirely new backline to replace the two players he suspended, another who was red-carded last week and yet another who is injured. And he reckons Scotland, on the rebound after their heavy loss to the Springboks last weekend, will make a game of it.

"They have a lot of good players here," he said. "They are shifting players around. They have British Lions players who are not playing against us, so they are building the base. We are all in the same boat, working backwards from the World Cup, with x amount of time to find enough players."

The Australian drinks ban will end when the final whistle sounds on Saturday. With a stable set of forwards, unchanged from last weekend, they should have the firepower to ensure that their first glasses are raised in celebration. But as some of their players know only too well, Scotland have a habit of taking the fizz out of these occasions.