Landing in Brisbane may not have been like arriving at a home from home for Scotland lock Stewart Campbell, but it was evident that he was certainly on familiar territory.

''I'm looking forward to meeting up with a lot of old friends,'' he said. ''I had a great time when I played in Brisbane.''

Campbell was just beginning to make a name for himself when he played in Queensland. Selected for Scotland's tour of Argentina that summer, he none the less went ahead with his plans to play for Brisbane's Easts club, spending a total of four months there either side of the international trip.

As a youngster learning the ways of front-five play, it could hardly have been a more useful experience in, quite literally, the school of hard knocks.

''It was certainly a hardening up process in the truest sense,'' is his recollection.

''The pitches were rock solid. There's no way anyone wants to go to ground in those conditions which, I'm sure, is one of the reasons the game is so fast in the southern hemisphere.

''Obviously it is ideal to run on those surfaces. But I was fleeing into rucks and the ball had gone ages ago. Hardly anyone goes to ground, so the ball is always kept alive.''

Campbell expects this tour to have similar benefits for the newcomers among what is a bulky, but inexperienced, group of Scottish forwards.

''Perfect training conditions every day help you to develop very quickly,'' he suggested.

The coaches take the view that this is a tremendous opportunity to accelerate the progress of a group of players who may well form the bulk of next year's World Cup squad, and this view was drummed home on arrival with two fierce training sessions immediately organised by the Scottish coaching team.

Certainly if Scotland return with a group of forwards who are as battle-hardened as Campbell was when he returned from Australia in 1994, then the tour will have to be considered a success.

Not the tallest of second-row men, particularly when measured alongside 7ft 1in international new boy Richard Metcalfe, he has earned a reputation as something of a hard man within the squad, whose work-rate is always exemplary. Clearly Jim Telfer and Hugh Campbell will look to the Dundee HSFP man to take something of a lead.

However if he is being perceived as a minder, he is slightly fazed at being considered as a senior player so early in his international career.

''It's a bit worrying at the age of 26 to be the senior lock on tour,'' Campbell observed.

''However I suppose I'll maybe have a bit more of a voice with the management than previously.''

As one of those whose hairline is beginning to provide evidence that he is not among the rookies, he did, yesterday, demonstrate a bit of early know-how, though it was a more valuable tip for some of his fellow senior men in the party.

''Just to be extra safe, I'm using something like factor 40 on my pate,'' he said, reinforcing the message of the medical experts.

With Five Nations boiler-house partnership Doddie Weir and Damian Cronin having been left behind, a new Test partnership is to be formed on this tour.

That being the case, Campbell's established working relationship with his Caledonia Reds team-mate of the past two seasons, Stuart Grimes, makes them firm favourites for the international matches against Fiji and Australia.

Indeed Grimes made a huge impression during this season's Five Nations matches, when he established himself in the squad as Cronin's stunt double, when the Wasps man's advanced years began to tell on him later in matches.

Campbell would be the last man to take anything for granted, but is clearly pleased with the understanding he has developed with Grimes.

''Whoever you are playing alongside, you tend to form a partnership and that will apply to whoever I play with on this tour,'' he said.

''But I feel that Stuart and I have operated very well together. He has worked very hard and has come on at an amazing rate over the past couple of seasons. We are very comfortable playing alongside one another.''

Although he has yet to win a starting place in an international match Grimes, too, can almost be considered an old-stager when compared with quite a number of those who may well win caps on this tour.

Campbell, though, adheres firmly to the party line that there is a freshness to this squad which means they should be enthused - rather than in any way apprehensive - about the challenges that lie ahead.

''We have a very exciting squad,'' he said. ''There are a lot of pacey boys in the backs and we have some very big men among the forwards making this trip.''

Before departure, backs coach John Rutherford made the point that the absence of the old guard could make it easier to put different philosophies across.

''The squad has already gelled,'' Campbell agreed. ''There are no cliques and everyone is getting on well.''