He's always desperate for the ball, which suits me fine because I always want to do something with the ball once we've won it He never hides and he never drops you in it. If something goes wrong, or you've made a bad call, he'll take the ball up, protect it in contact and give you the chance to start over. He's such a mature player and some of that maturity has rubbed off on me, I think."If there is one allegation Townsend's critics have seldom hesitated to throw in his face, it is one of immaturity. Not, of course, immaturity in the Gazza sense - during the 1997 Lions tour, to which he contributed immeasurably more than he was given credit for, he did not touch a drop until the series was won - but in his reluctance to cut his coat to suit the available cloth. Too often, according to the nay-sayers, his ideas fizzle into nothing; there are no percentages to his play, no steady hand on the tiller, no discipline.

In other words, he should be far more boring.It will never be Townsend's way, thank the Lord. Ian McGeechan, who coached him at club level last season and also picked him ahead of Neil Jenkins as the Lions' stand-off in South Africa, is fond of saying that "Gregor's thought processes are a yard quicker than everyone else's" That should be read as praise, not criticism. McGeechan, a big Townsend supporter, did not get to coach three Lions parties by asking his best players to be less inspired.Yet Townsend is not always so full of self-confidence as his brilliance would suggest. "That Lions tour was very important to me because I needed to prove to myself that I could play 10 at the very top level. It's where I most enjoy playing, always have done, but for various reasons, I haven't always been picked there.

I find I need to convince myself over and over again, especially when I've spent a fair bit of time playing in a different position."When things went well for me on Scotland's tour of Australia last summer, I thought I might be in for the long run. But I popped a shoulder a few weeks after moving to Brive and when Scotland came to play the Maoris at Murrayfield before Christmas it was only my second game back. I had a rough afternoon and Jim dropped me for the Springbok Test It happens. I was back for the start of the Five Nations, though, albeit at centre That pleased me. I love being a part of the championship."Duncan Hodge's injury midway through the opening game with Wales at Murrayfield forced Telfer into making policy on the hoof and the old curmudgeon's instincts proved sound. Townsend slotted into the fulcrum position, Alan Tait went from bench to outside centre, the Scots threequarter line started to crackle and, suddenly, heaven was a place on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

They have barely taken a backward glance since; even though they allowed England to sneak a win at Twickenham a fortnight later, they claimed a moral victory."A missed opportunity, for sure," says Townsend, a try-scorer that day. "We had that English defence at sixes and sevens, especially after half- time, and I don't think anyone would have been too outraged had we gone on to win the match. We're still making the breaks - we made them against Italy and also against the Irish - but we're more confident now, more aware of our own ability. If we'd been that little bit more aware at Twickenham, we could be chasing a Slam this weekend."We'll take a good deal out of this tournament, though, regardless of the result this weekend; after all, we've had to play the whole thing without Bryan Redpath, our captain before Christmas, and a lot of it without Doddie Weir. When you add Jamie Mayer, Matt Proudfoot and Gordon Simpson to the unavailables, we look pretty strong going into the World Cup. Those of us who are in the starting line-up now are going to have to sweat for our places, which is ideal from Jim's point of view."Quite where Townsend will play his rugby after this autumn's showpiece tournament remains unclear: he has an option for another season with Brive, but he may indulge his wanderlust once more and look to broaden his rugby education - and his life in general - elsewhere. "I'm loving Brive, now that I've found my feet and learned some of the language," he says.