Educated at George Watson’s College, then Cambridge University Gavin Hastings is no-one’s idea of a product of the School Of Hard Knocks (SOHK) but that is not the point as he promotes a project that is designed to introduce those from less well-to-do backgrounds to some of the advantages he had.

In performing as an ambassador for the charity which bears that name having grown out of a satellite television programme and uses rugby to help its alumni improve their lot, Hastings could, like anyone else, point to the fact that even with his privileged upbringing he and his family have had tough times too. However it is not in his nature to look at things that way.

“I live in an environment where you want to be with people who are positive,” he explained. “I cannot stand being with negative people. I will walk away from negative people if you’re at a party or anything else, because these people just suck energy from you. Only in Scotland can we turn two positive things into a negative. So you say: ‘Do you think Scotland will qualify for the World Cup?’ and the response is ‘Aye, right.’ Only in Scotland… and it does my head in. You ask the majority of people ‘How are you doing?’ and they answer ‘not too bad.’ (Sports psychologist) Jack Black used to go on about that. You hit a golf shot and they say ‘That’s safe.’ Safe from what? There’s not a marauding pack of dinosaurs that are going to come and eat you up. Who’s going to steal your golf ball. It’s terminology.”

He says so possessed of greater self-awareness than might once have been the case, however, courtesy of the aforementioned Black who worked with Scotland during Hastings’ playing days and delivered messages that had a lasting impact.

“I remember way back when he came into the Scotland camp and for the first time ever it made me understand why I was like the person I am. I’d never thought about it, but all of these things he was explaining were completely natural to me,” he said.

Black’s emphasis on a positive outlook was central to his motivational philosophy, but in recognising that what was being preached at him was something that came naturally, Hastings also came to gain some insight into the difficulties faced by those who have very different life experiences. That, in turn, opened him to SOHK when he was properly introduced to it at this year’s European Champions Cup final at Murrayfield and a project designed to introduce rugby values to those who have never been touched by the sport seems all the more relevant in a week that sees Scotland visited by the representatives of a country in which the vast majority of the population draw inspiration from their international rugby team.

Not that SOHK has any ambition to produce world class rugby players, but it can play a part in both helping change the lives of those who engage with it and, in turn, perhaps change perceptions of the sport itself in a part of the world in which it is largely a middle class pursuit.

“Rugby offers so much, so for the charity to centre it around rugby and all the values that rugby has is where the whole inspiration has come from,” said Hastings. “The programme itself that was on Sky TV is the public face, but the underlying offering of the charity is to get people into employment and off the dole and to try to just give them a leg up. When they go to this eight week programme they go out and get involved in things like interview techniques, things you and I might do naturally, but these people wouldn’t if they are shy or they are just not used to people being nice to them.

“So they do all that stuff and then they’re out on the field and actually working as a team and for perhaps the first time in their lives they are doing that and it’s about trying to get them to understand that that’s what it’s all about, that you’re helping one another. If you help one another it’s to the ultimate benefit of each and every one of you. I still go to the occasional mini or midi rugby festival and you just see the hundreds and hundreds of kids that participate throughout the length and breadth of rugby week-in, week-out and understand that the values they are being taught are life skills as well. It’s a massive, massive thing and when they’re being taught something that’s not in a learning environment… you’re not at school or Sunday School class or anything like that, you subconsciously learn and subconsciously pick up all these things.”

Hastings meanwhile both benefited and suffered from exposure to Scottish rugby’s traditional school of hard knocks in his day, having had the likes of Gary Armstrong, John Jeffrey, Craig Chalmers and Tony Stanger alongside him on his greatest day in a Scotland shirt when the Grand Slam was won in 1990, but also suffered at the hands and feet of some of their fellow Borderers down the years.

“The characters who emerge from the Borders have been very important and it takes a mix of all of that to just create something a bit unique and a bit special. You remember someone like Shaun McGaughey who was a bit of a hard nut, wasn’t he? I didn’t think so kindly of him when he was jumping up on my head with those big long studs a few years ago right enough. He was bit different,” he said with a rueful laugh. “I think professionalism is good in a way as well, because if people can see rugby is a career path then any kid from any background, if they have that hardness they’ll have a chance in rugby, which might not have been possible before.”

He believes the sport is doing better in areas like Lanarkshire and Glasgow, where huge numbers of naturally tough youngsters have traditionally been given little or no chance to get involved in a sport to which they would be well suited and would serve them well. However in tapping into its population of 5.5 million Scottish rugby remains a long way behind New Zealand, which generates its success from around 4.5 million citizens. We have much still to learn about schools of hard knocks.