It was typical of Kevin McKenzie to be the man to stick his head above the parapet yesterday. Although delighted at being given his first start on tour in today's meeting with New South Wales Country at Bathurst, he was prepared publicly to voice concerns within the squad about the relentless nature of the training schedule.

''On Saturday, the way the side struggled in the closing stages was down to fatigue more than anything else,'' said the Stirling County hooker.

''You can shout at people for not being sharp but you have to look at the training regime that we have been under. It has not all been hammer and tongs, but you are on your feet all the time. The last 20 or 30 minutes of a game is when that is going to take its toll.

''Hopefully the training will ease off a bit now and the guys will start to feel fresh instead of going out to training sessions feeling stiff and sore.''

In many ways the squad were almost looking forward to what might have been seen as an awkwardly planned trip today. A three-and-a-half-hour bus journey from Nadi to Suva in Fiji last week did the players involved no favours on the day of the Test match.

Today they face a similar length of trip, but the drive through the Blue Mountains to Bathurst, where the temperatures are much lower than they have become accustomed to over the past fortnight, at least provides some variety amidst what is being seen as a monotonous schedule.

The situation is, of course, symptomatic of the outlook of the man in charge of the tour. Jim Telfer's own work ethic is such that it sometimes seems, perhaps unfairly, that he finds it difficult to understand that even some of the more dedicated of those in his charge sometimes need to switch off.

Something similar occurred in New Zealand when he was the tour manager two years ago and the senior players eventually made representations seeking the introduction of some recreational, non-rugby actitivities. That they are not here on holiday goes without saying, and anyone in a national squad who baulks at hard graft should perhaps consider a career change in this professional era, but there is something of the ''all work and no play'' syndrome about the mood of the squad.

They are, after all, a group of young men for whom a trip to the other side of the world ought to be a mind-broadening opportunity.

There were eyebrows raised from the first day when Scotland arrived in Australia to undertake two training sessions by way of stretching their legs after getting off the plane.

The rigours of training apart, an under-current of grumbling about the lack of a variety in the diet they are facing is another manifestation of the same factor.

The complaints are all relatively minor but seem to stem from something of a sense of boredom and once enthusiasm is dulled it can be difficult to rekindle.

That McKenzie should be the first to hint at that openly is all the more significant since, in the past, he has been an individual famously dedicated to hard work to compensate for what he regards as his own physical disadvantages. Then again, as he aims to take his chance to prove his worthiness for a place in the Test 22, he accepts that he is a changed man after the horrors of last year when he lost his baby son while he himself was recovering from a career-threatening neck injury.

''When you've had a bad injury perhaps it also put things into perspective a bit more,'' he observed. ''You don't think so much about the rugby and maybe it is not the most important thing in your life.

''But then you get into a situation like this and there is the chance of a Test place and you think maybe it is. It's a funny wee change around for me. For a while I was just concentrating on living life and the rugby was secondary.

''To pull on a Scotland shirt again is just the realisation of almost a year and a half's work. It's great to get a start. ''I'm using this tour as a springboard to next season and obviously the World Cup. Of course I want to play in a Test, but this is the first real day-to-day team training I have done after being away training on my own for the past six or seven months,'' McKenzie added, making his own assessment of his condition as being about 60% of what it should be.

Whether he is not quite yet the player he was and whether or not his approach to life has softened, the Stirling captain remains a man of forthright views, however.

Typically, he summed up the importance of today's meeting with NSW Country in one sentence.

''We have got to win,'' he said, ''because our credibility in new South Wales is already minute.''