QUITE a few things have happened to Doddie Weir in the last year, and not all of them expected. I mean, who would have believed he could become an expert and avid watcher of the All Blacks?

Yet, next Saturday will be the fifth time ‘George Wilson’ will have seen New Zealand playing live in 2017, and unsurprisingly, he knows the size of the test facing Scotland at Murrayfield.

“Seeing the All Blacks this often is no bad thing – maybe the circumstances could have been better,” smiled the former Scotland and Lions giant.

“But, it has been great to see them in action – and up close. Then, you get an idea of what goes in to making this fifteen the team it is,” said Weir.

Scotland have never beaten New Zealand, the best they’ve done in living memory being a 25-25 draw, exactly 34 years ago today, a performance that kick-started what became a Grand Slam season under Jim Telfer.

The time is always right to end that kind of run. For Weir, the opportunity is certainly there on Saturday.

“We had a good Six Nations, winning the home games, although the England result was a bit of a battering. But there are signs that Gregor Townsend has moved things on since then,” says the 61-times capped Weir.

“Scotland had a good summer tour and a great result in Australia, and I think Gregor’s philosophy and the way he wants the game played, coupled with the kind of players we have behind the scrum – like Finn Russell, and Huw Jones, and Stuart Hogg – and with real finishers out wide, makes this quite an exciting season, through the Autumn and in to the Six Nations.

“We’ll find out in a week whether we can bring all of that together against the best. Whatever the outcome, you’ll know after that exactly where you stand. But for me, we have a chance.”

Weir’s confidence is based on what other have achieved against New Zealand in recent times.

“I think, leading up to the Lions tour, the All Blacks had lost to Ireland over in Chicago – almost a year ago exactly - and at that point, I think people realised then there maybe there was a bit of vulnerability to them, and that teams could work out how to play them, and even beat them.

“The New Zealanders are hardly insecure when it comes to confidence, self-belief or knowing how good they are. But I believe they now get the message – particularly after the Lions managed to draw the Test series out there during the summer – that unless they are on the money, 100% right in what they do, a team having a very good day against them has a chance.

“What you don’t want to be is ten points down in the first five minutes. If you’ve never beaten someone before, the mindset is ‘here we go again.’

“That has been the story for the majority of the home nations. But as England have shown, and as the Irish and Lions did, you need to give yourself the best possible start and platform, keep it tight, and take it from there – and ignore they are the best in the world. Quite simple really,” he joked.

“Like any sport, a team or an individual can beat the best if one is below par and the other has the day of their life. I just think if Scotland are to have any chance, they need to be on their ‘A’ game and hope the Kiwis are just a wee bit below par.

“The Celtic nations are for me, quite similar and alike in the kind of results they’ve been having and the players they have on offer. For me, we then have to take positives from what Ireland did a year ago and try and match it.”

The 47-year-old saw first-hand what effect expectations can have on the Kiwis, both players and supporters.

“Before the first Lions Test, it was welcome to New Zealand and enjoy the rugby. When they’d won that one, they seemed to go out their way to make us feel better and wish us luck.

“But after we’d won in the Wellington Test, against the odds, they were a bit more serious because they knew the Lions were up for it. If you could see the locals worried, and under a bit of pressure, imaging how the rugby team felt.

“I think even though the series ended up being drawn, the majority of New Zealanders would have considered that outcome like a loss. That’s how much it means to them.”

And because it means so much is what drives New Zealand on to new heights, says Weir.

“They have been the most outstanding team in world rugby for 30 years. If sport is about cycles, then when they have a bad cycle, they only reach a World Cup semi-final. If Scotland are in a bad cycle, we get the Wooden Spoon or don’t get out of the group at the World Cup. That is the gulf or gap in achievement levels and talent production.

“Even when others were winning the World Cup, like Australia, like South Africa, like England, they were the benchmark, the team to aim for and the team to beat.

“Now they’ve moved that on to being world champions over the last two tournaments. That suggests they have become even better.

“Player wise, they just keep churning out such talent, world beaters. Dan Carter was great, now Beauden Barrett is the man; world-class replacing world-class. When you have that continuity, when you have that kind talent waiting to get a chance, you are left in a pretty dominant position.

“The rugby they play, explosive, dynamic, the way they offload in the tackle, the way they support and attack, their ball skills, the speed of pass, they are a pretty special team. And they’ll have 15, 23, 35, 50 players at that level. It’s pretty awesome.

“They still have a steeliness and a resolve to get the job done. Last week at Twickenham, against the Barbarians, they were 17-5 down at one point. Others would have panicked, but not them. Their focus is ‘this is what we do. Do it, we win.’ So disciplined.”

 It is impossible for Doddie to talk about the All Blacks without his memory lurching back to one afternoon in Pretoria in 1995, when the farmer from the borders scored two tries in a World Cup tie.

“I think I was nine inches out for the first, a foot for the second – my range,” Weir laughed. “No, it was maybe two and four yards. But it wasn’t far, I know that.

“I’d scored one try up until then for Scotland -  two in an afternoon against the All Blacks, I may have dined out on that a few times since.

“We lost, 48-30, but we gave a decent account of ourselves against a team that was flying, and, when the entire world was caught up by the phenomenon that was Jonah Lomu. Sad.”

“What happened to Jonah?” I enquired.

“No, it was Gavin Hastings last game.”

And yes, he did laugh at his own joke. For ages …