It is easy to understand a player having mixed emotions when they face the haka for the first time, but no member of the Scotland team which lines up against New Zealand at BT Murrayfield on Saturday will be churning away inside like Sean Maitland.

The Glasgow Warriors winger has never made any secret of the fact that his first ambition in rugby was to become an All Black himself, and that it was only when it became clear it was not going to happen that he turned to Scotland, where his grandfather was born, instead. In some quarters of New Zealand - notably around Christchurch, where he starred for the Crusaders for five seasons - he is still thought of as the one that got away, but over the course of two years in Glasgow he has become increasingly certain he made the right decision.

"It took me six months to get used to things," Maitland recalled. "Overseas players told me it would take that long to get used to a new country and a new club. But it is all second nature now. I've bought a house in Glasgow and this is my second home now. So definitely no regrets.

"I enjoyed my five years with the Crusaders; we won a championship and I played with some awesome players. But since my decision to come over here I've had no regrets at all. Playing for Scotland and representing my family over here and making the Lions [he was chosen for last year's tour to Australia] - it's been a whirlwind.

"The last couple of years have gone by so quickly. It has been enjoyable playing with these boys, playing great rugby with Glasgow and obviously playing for Scotland."

He stops short of saying it explicitly, but it easy to suspect that his enjoyment levels reached unprecedented heights in last Saturday's 41-31 victory over Argentina at Murrayfield. Given licence to play an up-tempo game, and trusted to carry it off, Maitland and his Scotland colleagues showed a sharpness and quick-wittedness on the ball that had not been witnessed in the Edinburgh stadium in years.

"In the first 60 minutes we just played rugby, played what we saw," the 26-year-old said. "You could see from the game that we enjoyed our rugby; there were a lot of smiles. It's good to score a lot of tries, and that's probably thanks to Vern and the way he has come in and change our mindset about the game. We are just playing rugby and enjoying it."

Maitland is still entitled to harbour a degree of trepidation about his next Murrayfield engagement. From the day he threw in his lot with Scotland it was always likely he would one day find himself playing against the land of his birth - and against a number of players who were his team-mates at the Crusaders and in age-grade international sides.

So how does he feel about the moment when he will find himself staring across the centre line as the All Blacks form up for the haka? Pretty good, as it happens.

"I wouldn't say I've got mixed emotions going into this game," he said. "The main feeling I get is just excitement. It's going to be crazy. I've been talking to the guys in the Scotland team who have faced it before. Obviously I've seen it a lot on TV. It will be crazy, especially having multi-heritage [he has Maori and Samoan ancestry on his mother's side] growing up. It is going to be special.

"I did it plenty of times, for school and for age-group stuff. It's nothing new to me I suppose. They are laying the challenge down to us and we've got to accept it and feed off it. I won't be doing anything silly. No smiling or laughing.

"I think I'll just try to pick out [former Crusaders team-mate Ryan] Crotty if he is playing and just stare at him."

All in all, Maitland is more relaxed about the scenario than seems likely. The other night, he went out for dinner with Crotty and Colin Slade, and he is clearly comfortable about meeting them in the heat of battle if he must.

"It's going to be a special game," he smiled. "That's what you play rugby for: a sold-out Murrayfield against the best team in the world. You've got to be excited and enjoy it, just enjoy the moment."

Maitland scored the fourth of Scotland's five tries against Argentina off a sizzling break by Greig Laidlaw. Astonishingly, it was only his second in 14 international appearances, although he led many to believe he might be rather more prolific when he scored his first, in the early stages of his Test debut against England at Twickenham last year.

In fairness, he is probably more impressive as a creator of chances, especially with the Warriors, although he is clearly excited to be part of a backline that is fearless about getting the ball into the wide channels.

He was also happy to give credit where it was really due as he looked back on his score against the Pumas: "Greig made a great break up the middle of the park. I just sort of reacted pretty quickly and managed to catch his eye.

"It was a great pass by Greig, great vision by the little man. It seemed like it was in the air forever, but I managed to catch it and run it in for a lollipop try."

Another one of those on Saturday and there will be no questions around Murrayfield about where Maitland's heart lies now.