The meme doing the social media rounds, depicting a paternal Greig Laidlaw holding the reins of toddlers Finn Russell and Adam Hastings is the classic picture that is worth 1000 words.

Very much the wise old head within the group, one of the biggest tasks facing Scotland’s captain today is to ensure that they do not become self-destructive with all that pent up energy in the explosive group of youngsters outside him which also includes the talents of the irrepressible Stuart Hogg, Huw Jones and Blair Kinghorn, as well as Laidlaw’s only fellow thirty-something in the back division, Sean Maitland..

Even the way in which he discovered its existence speaks to what the 33-year-old must put up with.

“Yeah, I have seen it. Adam actually showed me it. Hoggy kindly changed the group icon on WhatsApp to that. We are getting reminded every time we check the phone now so...” he reported in mock exasperation.

Laidlaw clearly realises, however, that part of the art of staying in touching with the youngsters is being able to accept that the joke is sometimes on him as the representative of a different generation, describing it all as “a bit of banter,” and indicating that he is capable of a spot of indulgent parenting as long as the youngsters understand the time and the place.

“They can cause mayhem as long as it is in the right area of the field,” he laughed..

He knows, however, that the time to get serious and ensure that everyone understands his responsibility is approaching.

“It comes back to... we want to push Adam on and make him a leader. With him playing in the ten position he will be vitally important tomorrow afternoon. He is the man in charge,” said Laidlaw.

“This week he has been communicating very well and running the team shape. We me inside him and Finn outside him there will be good communication around him so we can make sure he is happy and go out there and play rugby.”

How Russell adjusts will be vital, but Laidlaw believes the switch will allow both players to shine.

“I think Finn will be tremendous for Adam, to be honest,” he said.

“Any time Finn has trained there or moved there in a game he has done really well. He has a little bit more time and space to pick up his head and hopefully see some opportunities, and he’s a really good communicator as well – that’s one of his great strengths – so he’ll feed that into Adam, and that’s that plan to make Adam’s job as easy as possible, so he can just get out there and play rugby.

“With me inside him and Finn outside him there will be good communication around him so we can make sure he is happy and go out there and play rugby. They can cause mayhem as long as it is in the right area of the field.”

The selection of this back line looks like evidence of an ever greater desire to out-score opponents as Laidlaw acknowledged.

“Last weekend we were really disappointed in that we were frustrated in not scoring more tries,” he admitted.

“We want to be a bit sharper and we spoke about that this week about getting hands on the ball and making good decisions and getting out there and really enjoying the game.”

However, what was evident, after much talk in the first six months under their new management of seeking to play the fastest rugby in world rugby, that it was when their long-time captain returned to the team during the Six Nations Championship, that they re-established the sort of balance that was being developed under previous head coach Vern Cotter, in understanding when to attack and when it would be counter-productive to be too aggressive.

“That comes with experience,” said Laidlaw.

“Where I am placed in the team it is such a crucial link it comes back to the small margins of winning Test matches. If you choose to run at the wrong time it can cost you points. Sometimes it is a simple case of just get the ball down the field and say to the opposition you have to score from 70 metres.

“We have to keep the boys reminded we have a good defence as well and use that to our advantage. We don’t need to have the ball all the time to put the opposition under pressure.”

That said, he recognises that he too has to prove his worth every time he takes the field for his country.

“I’m delighted to be back in the team, but there no point being in the team just to be there, it is about adding things to the team and ultimately tomorrow it is about winning,” he said.

“We need to win tomorrow to drive the team forward into the Six Nations which is the next time we come together. If you look at Ireland developing that real winning culture, and I think were not too far behind, but we just need to get over in these tight games and tomorrow, if its tight, we just need to make sure we get over the line in these big moments in the Test match.”