When he’s not on official duty in sponsor branded Scotland kit, attack coach Brad Mooar likes to wear his Barcelona football strip – shirt, shorts and socks – around the team hotel or during days off, with the Catalonian club providing some valuable inspiration to his overall coaching philosophy.

"I love Barcelona’s style of footie, their culture and their behavioural standards that started a long time back," explained the New Zealander. “That tiki-taka style of play to keep the ball moving is cool and there is a place for it in all sports if you can find it – plus the colours suited me!

“I just love sport, love champions and understanding how they roll," he added. “I’ve had magnificent opportunities for personal development over the years and I think you can take a lot of other sports. Whether iy is individual sports, team sports, business, horse racing, training, whatever the case may be – you can use that to understand how different things can be transferred into what we are doing here with Scotland.

“It’s about leading people, teaching people, trying to get athletes right, reading body language and all that sort of stuff, so the more we can cross codes and take from other world class entities and people, the better we can be."

READ MORE: Tonga clash the most important match of Townsend's Scotland career

Meanwhile, Scotland have flown 22-year-old Edinburgh centre Matt Currie, 20-year-old Glasgow second-row Alex Samuel, 22 year-old Glasgow back-row Gregor Brown and 29-year-old winger Damien Hoyland (who was recently released by Edinburgh) to the south of France to train with the squad this week ahead of Sunday’s crucial World Cup Pool B clash against Tonga.

World Rugby regulations allow extra players to train with squads as long as they haven’t been involved with the original training group and wouldn’t be called up to the World Cup squad if there were injuries.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to come over and extend their experience,” explained Mooar, when asked about the quartet’s involvement. “I spoke before about the personal development opportunities I’ve had, and this is a personal development opportunity for those three young fellas.
 
“They have been outstanding, and they are preparing for the club season, so it is great for them to get involved and see what the standard is like at this level.
 
“For Damian, he doesn’t have a club and this is a great opportunity for him to stay current and stay fit, and to put his skill-sets under pressure. And if there is a club out there looking for a winger, that’s a pretty good one sitting there on the market ready to go.”