Vern Cotter's Scotland have been handed a substantial vote of confidence from an unlikely source after winning praise from the England and Lions legend Jeremy Guscott.
Guscott has never been slow to criticise Scotland in recent years, apparently revelling in his role as antagonist of players and supporters north of the border.
However, the 49-year-old, a veteran of three tours with the British and Irish Lions, was left singing the praises of the new-look Scots in the wake of a creditable performance in Saturday's 24-16 defeat by the All Blacks.
On the back of an impressive 41-31 victory over Argentina seven days earlier, Guscott described the visit of New Zealand to BT Murrayfield at the weekend as "enthralling" and believes that Scotland can be heartened by the strides already made under Cotter.
"Despite their defeat, I couldn't help but be impressed by Scotland's performance," said Guscott. "I've talked often about the holy grail of performance - actually delivering on the field of play - and some coaches seem to just work magic on their charges. They strike a chord and players play their best.
"To this list of coaches who find the switch that makes their team get out there and go, it looks like we can add Scotland's Vern Cotter. I was not just entertained by the game at Murrayfield, as a neutral I found it enthralling.
"There were simple little touches, like at the breakdown Grieg Laidlaw would pass to a forward but they might then move it on two or three phases further out from the breakdown.
"New Zealand do that sort of thing as a matter of course, but tell me a northern hemisphere side that does that? To see a side from the home nations do that both frequently and comfortably was refreshing."
Guscott was struck by Scotland's overall team performance but reserved special praise for Glasgow stand-off Finn Russell, who he believes "seems born to play Test rugby", and for scrum-half and captain Laidlaw, who he reckons turned in "as commanding a performance as I've seen at nine from anyone in the world this year".
He added: "Scotland produced an almost textbook performance. It was a simple game-plan, with players committing hard and rising to the occasion."
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