There is a good chance the quickest player on the pitch at Murrayfield on Saturday, when Scotland hunt for an inaugural victory over New Zealand, will only touch the ball once – and before the match has even kicked off.

Josh Kerr, the world-record holder in running a mile and Olympic silver medallist, will deliver the match ball to the middle of the Murrayfield pitch before his nation’s bout with the All Blacks on Saturday.

Even before joining Scotland for their captain’s run on Friday, Kerr had some serious rugby pedigree. His father, John, played wing for Scotland A; his brother, Jake, won a full cap at hooker in 2019; and Kerr played full-back for George Watson’s College in Edinburgh in his youth, where a certain Blair Kinghorn was often found on the opposing side, for Edinburgh Academy.

Sitting in the Murrayfield stands, the 29-year-old baulks at the notion he might be quicker than the likes of Kyle Steyn or Will Jordan. Kerr is keen to stress, however, after joining the squad for lunch and answering their questions on high performance, there are crossovers. Mainly regarding the “chaos” of elite sport.

“I’d look awful out there,” Kerr tells Telegraph Sport, pointing towards the immaculate Murrayfield surface, before joking: “I’d look great skill-wise, but it’s the speed that would let me down!”

He adds: “Even dealing with grass... my ankles and legs are not built for those conditions and I do not have the turn of speed that those guys have. I’d be injured in the first 30 seconds and asking Gregor [Townsend, Scotland head coach] for a replacement.

“But everyone at this level deals with the same stuff: external noise from media, internal doubts, emotions of the day – going out knowing you have to perform – and dealing with the chaos that comes. Running looks very different to rugby but it is just about dealing with chaos as well as you can; not getting too overworked on some things and making sure you’re focused. It’s the same in rugby – just for 80 minutes rather than three. I get it easy.

“Not fighting [the chaos]. Embracing it, riding it in the right way. Rather than letting chaos happen to you, you want to be able to direct it in your own way. Training is trying to predict what kind of chaos is going to come your way and how you can manoeuvre it, change it, to get the results you’re looking for. Tomorrow won’t just be: kick-off, score a bunch, and then call it a day. You’re going to have to deal with adversity, weather, bad moments, great moments; it’s about not getting too high or too low.”

Kerr has spent the past 12 years living in Albuquerque, New Mexico – there is just the slightest hint of an American twang in his voice – but he is unashamedly Scottish and proud of it. Murrayfield on Saturday – “a massive honour” – will be his sixth time back in Europe this year. He is Edinburgh born and bred and palpably proud of that – “I love it in the winter when it’s grimy and dark”– as well as of his family: parents, brother, three nephews and others.

“Whenever anyone asks me my favourite sportsperson, or who I look up to, it was my brother because we were so close growing up,” Kerr says. “We did the same sports on the same teams. He kept me in running, asking some hard questions, keeping me as humble as possible.

“My brother went in one direction as I went in another. He had such an amazing career and I’m so proud of everything he was able to achieve, dealing with a load of injuries. It’s just a mindset. If anyone asks where I learnt mine, my brother is one of the mentally toughest people I’ve ever met. He’s a sounding board for a lot of things I do. I’m proud of him and I’m proud to be around Scottish rugby in general. I wanted to be a player on the pitch when I was growing up but now it’s nice to be on this side of things.

“My dad was Scotland sevens, too. He had a big engine, like my brother. They both know what it takes. That stuff does not happen by accident. I owe a lot of my mindset stuff to them and my mum.

“When I was playing rugby, I was getting injured a lot, the intensity was increasing, and my parents were very much like: ‘You are built to do something else.’ At fourth year of school, I decided to go all in on running. But, when any parent asks me now what advice I would give younger athletes: keep playing multiple sports for as long as you can. When I dropped rugby and other sports and just focused on running, I got worse for a little bit. The other sports were helping with injury prevention and in the gym. But, rugby was a short-lived dream.”

Kerr knows rugby and he knows Scottish rugby. He admits to being “pretty obsessed” with the sport, streaming matches from his home in New Mexico. With the link to his brother, too, he has watched this current generation “growing up”. “That has been really nice to witness,” he says.

But what of Saturday? Scotland have played New Zealand 33 times and have never won, having drawn twice over the past 120 years. The All Blacks have a 20-match unbeaten streak at Murrayfield, too.

“We can match their intensity and we can win,” Kerr says. “I hope that the last 15 minutes look as intense as the first, but it is the players who are out there, the only ones who can affect it. We can predict all we want but they have to go out there and do the job; from the conversations I’ve had [on Friday] they are good to go. I’m inspired by their approach. I predict a win.”

If Townsend’s side can channel the stamina, spirit and speed from their match-ball deliverer, they will be halfway to history.