A few weeks back, four Scots shot the breeze in New Zealand, a meeting of rugby intellects transplanted from Edinburgh, Inverness, Yetholm and Jedburgh - all of them doing great things in their adopted land.

Mike Blair was one of them. On Saturday, in what promises to be a surreal day for him, the former Scotland captain will return to Murrayfield as attack coach for the All Blacks.

Euan Mackintosh was another. Mackintosh is the All Blacks' skills acquisition coach. The third man was Adam Hay, who is New Zealand's performance scientist.

The fourth was Clark Laidlaw, son of the great Roy, cousin of Greig and Super Rugby champion coach in 2026.

"We were getting a bit of stick at lunch, the four of us talking Scottish," says Laidlaw, whose Hurricanes team not only won Super Rugby in late June, they dominated it.

Finishing top of the table when the regular season ended, they won their first knockout game 66-12 against the Brumbies, then beat the Blues 57-21 in the semi-final before dismantling the Chiefs 60-5 in the final.

It was Laidlaw's third season in charge. He's far more celebrated in New Zealand than he is at home.

He's been there for 18 years, on and off, and he spoke about his life and times on the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast, how he went from a school-leaver at 16 to a New Zealand sevens coach - Commonwealth Games gold, World Cup Sevens gold, Olympics silver in Tokyo - to winning the ultimate club prize in southern hemisphere rugby in the summer.

Eight of Laidlaw's Hurricanes players are in Dave Rennie's touring squad and it might have been double figures had injury not taken a number of others out of the reckoning.

Laidlaw is a New Zealand passport holder now, but he'll be on Scotland's side on Saturday.

"You're gonna see New Zealand's strongest possible team, but there's no reason why Scotland can't win," he reckons. "It's been a bounce of the ball here and there [in recent games].

"Scotland are definitely knocking on the door. I want Scotland to beat the All Blacks and I want the All Blacks to win every other game."

He was 30 when he left Scotland for Taranaki, as a skills coach on the north island. Given his upbringing he always had a curiosity in him. His father always spoke about being a student of the game.

"I just thought there must be different ways to look at the game and different ways to look at life, really," he explains.

"I used to go and pass my rugby ball against a tree at lunchtime and train at night. I used to say to the old boys, I wasn't going to be staying here.

"They'd be like, 'Yeah, you'll be here'. I just knew I didn't want to be there for 20 years. It's not like I had a bad life in Scotland.

"I had a great job at East Lothian Council and I was coaching Jed-Forest. But I was curious to see what was outside of those big walls in Jed."

New Zealand has changed him, he says. Not just as a rugby man, but as a husband and father. The Maori and Pacific Island culture has influenced him in a substantial way, knocking some rough edges off his personality.

"Being around so many different people from different backgrounds took a little bit of my aggressive Scottish side off me," he says.

"Not too much, I hope. I have more empathy and more of an understanding side and I certainly didn't have that when I was younger."

That process started during his wildly successful years on the Sevens beat.

"The types of athletes we would bring in were often young, so it became an environment where we did have to look after each other," he says. "We had to look after young players.

"Mums and dads were sending their kids off to the Sevens. It was the first time they were leaving home. So we did have to have a caring element to that programme as well as driving them forward."

His time in New Zealand was interrupted by a brief spell at London Irish a decade ago. Around that time, he had opportunities to go to Leinster and Montpellier but he turned them down.

After two seasons, he was lured back to New Zealand - and his life really started to change.

All of this begs the question about his future. Is he a potential All Blacks head coach? Would he welcome a conversation about taking over from Gregor Townsend after the World Cup?

He thinks Kiwis are open-minded on coaches who they feel can help them win. Himself and Blair are proof of that.

The Scotland gig is more immediate, of course. "Gregor's done an amazing job," he answers. "Lots of coaches around the world will be looking at that job with real excitement for whenever Gregor moves on.

"I'd welcome a conversation. It would be a lot to up sticks and move back to Scotland, but you never know in sport.

"One thing I have learned is you can't plan. My focus is on the Hurricanes. If that leads to international rugby somewhere one day then I would definitely look at it, but looking too far ahead can trip you up."

He speaks about his dad, how proud he is of him and also of the pain of seeing him living with dementia.

In eight years as a Test player - courage and class in equal measure in the number nine jersey - Roy got 47 Scotland caps and four Lions caps. "That would be 120 games nowadays, wouldn't it," says his son.

"How is he? The short answer is he's doing as good as he can. He's safe and healthy. He's in a care home in Jed and is well looked after.

"The family is amazing. Greig's mum and dad are amazing. My middle brother lives close by and I feel for him because it's tough on him.

"John Rutherford and Keith Robertson [his fellow 1984 Grand Slam winners] go across every week and sit with him. It's one of the hardest things about being on this side of the world.

"It's always in the back of your head that Scotland is home and moving back at some stage might be an option."

Deep down, you hope Roy knows the heights his son has reached in the game and what a massive part he played in it all.

It's been some journey so far - and you sense there are many more adventures to come, at home or in his home from home.