AMONG his many rugby – or maybe this should be non-rugby - exploits, Doddie Weir once helped commandeer a bar after a defeat in Cardiff. The year was 2000 and it is safe to say a bit has happened to the Scottish rugby giant since then, especially in the last two years.

On Saturday, while he might not invade a local hostelry, Weir promised during the launch of his book, ‘My Name’5 Doddie’, to have "a shandy or two" post-Test match after Wales face Scotland for the Doddie Weir Cup.

“Back in 2000, we lost to Wales and decided to drown our sorrows. After the official dinner, we pitched up at a bar that was about 10 minutes from closing. When we came in, no-one left, so they had a lock-in. A good idea by the manager, and Cammy Mather and Martin Leslie were brilliant behind the bar, the only problem being they weren’t charging for any drinks. I don’t think that manager saw it as a great idea in the morning.”

Weir sampled victory in Cardiff, but he knows that regardless of the result next weekend, a great time will be had by all in the Welsh capital.

“It’s absolutely tremendous. Cardiff is a great city with some great rugby pubs. Dublin was the same, Edinburgh was the same. At Twickenham, London is just such a big city once you get out of the stadium. Everything disappears and you don’t have the atmosphere whereas Cardiff is just phenomenal.

“If you have a bad party, who do you blame? You only have yourself to blame. I’ve never had a bad party.

“The stadium itself is just wonderful. It’ll be full of Wales and Scotland fans and I’m sure it’ll be a great weekend in general.”

Of course, Weir wouldn’t complain about a Scottish victory, and neither would his former Scotland, Lions, Borders and Co-Optimists Melrose Sevens-winning team-mate Gregor Townsend. "Toony" made a guest appearance on Thursday at Murrayfield at a special reception for Weir’s book launch and had nothing but kind things to say about him. Would he reciprocate?

“Gregor? ‘He’s a Gala man … next question!” Weir joked, before given credit where it was due.

“No he’s been great. He’s been very supportive and he’s doing well for the team. Vern [Cotter] really got things going and Gregor has continued that good work and success. It is an exciting brand of rugby. There’s a good structure there, he has a good team behind him and a good group of players to work with. It’s a good time for Scottish rugby – and I can see it continuing like that for the next while.”

It might look like the same game, but Weir, capped 61-times for his country and a member of the 1999 Five Nations winning squad, doesn’t envy the current generation one bit.

“I don’t think there is the same fun. But the players of today will only know this side of international rugby whereas I got the chance to see it both as an amateur and a pro. When we were amateur and when we went professional originally, we only maybe trained once or twice a day, there was no assessment of your heart rate, your GPS, what your diet was, what you were up to, how much you were training or not training.

“There was a little bit of game management, or a big bit at times, but not the off-the-field assessments and what you see now and I think with that it certainly doesn’t bode for the good times we had because we’d meet up on a Wednesday night, we’d have a few social shandies because that’s good for team unity, and we’d play on the Saturday.

“That would be frowned against now. That would not happen, and some of you know about being on a tour, in the good old days the press and everyone got together, that doesn’t happen now because of mobile phones and one thing and another.”

Weir is looking forward to meeting some of the other old timers next week in Cardiff.

“My big pal Scott Quinnell will be there, Rob Howley and a good few others. We’ll show the young boys a thing or two, or rather we won’t – because they’ll be flying home.”

Weir’s book, ‘My Name’5 Doddie,’ from Black & White Publishing is out now.