Craig Chalmers and Tom Smith, two of Scotland's greatest professional rugby players, have been brought into the international coaching structure with Scotland's Under-20 side.

Both British & Irish Lions, their appointments reflect an increasing awareness at Murrayfield of the need to expose developing players to the wealth of expertise available from those who have performed at the top level.

The pair have 121 Scotland caps between them - Smith 61 and Chalmers 60 - and are among those most obviously suited to careers in coaching, because of the way they themselves developed as players.

In both cases, they were individuals who maximised their abilities, Chalmers as themost competitive animal to wear a navy blue jersey in the past two decades and Smith through sheer bloody-minded resolve that refused to give way to more naturally powerful opponents.

The latter will be the Under-20s forwards coach and his promised approach offered an insight into what he sees as being the modern way of coaching. "Coaching has always interested me and it's something I'm relatively new to," explained the prop who is still playing regularly for Northampton Saints.

"The days of bawling, screaming and shouting are over. It's about letting each player know one by one how they can improve their game."

That ties in with his reputation as a player who was very much a quiet man in Scotland and Lions squads, but one whose every contribution carried authority and meaning.

Chalmers, who kicked Scotland to grand slam success in 1990, is more overtly passionate and is appointed to the rather nebulous sounding post of "continuous professional development coach".

That is apparently an opportunity for him to develop as a coach and, to his credit, he has embraced the opportunity.

"I'm delighted to get this chance," he said. "When I played at Worcester, I had a year coaching their academy and have coached at Melrose for the last three to four years, so I hope to be an asset and help the players to progress."