If anybody thought of accusing Frank Hadden and the Scotland management of going over the top with their complaints about the release of foreign-based players, it is worth a look at what is happening in world rugby this week.

Scotland play New Zealand in a little less than three weeks, an All Blacks side who were together throughout June, July and August before the core of the group gathered again yesterday to start preparations for their European tour.

A day later, Hadden will announce who he hopes will turn up for Scotland’s first training session, which is not until the start of next week, 4½ months after the last competitive get-together.

As though national enthusiasm for rugby and the much, much stronger player base were not enough of an advantage for the world’s No 1 ranked side, they have also been able to devise a playing season that gives them an inevitable lead in preparing to face any European national team.

While the Scotland-based players will be available for two weeks, the complete squad could have as little as eight days, with a gap in the middle, to prepare.

Fortunately for Hadden, he has more than the usual number of choices to make as he tries to juggle form against experience, and positions where he has an embarrassment of riches against those where he has almost no viable options.

Clearly the core of the autumn squad is going to be the unit that he took to Argentina in the summer, but there will be changes, with a couple out through injury while others have not been winning selection for their clubs. Some players who were unavailable in the summer are back.

There are still some big decisions for Hadden to make. For a start there is the Simon Taylor dilemma. The Scotland coach has never made any secret of his admiration for the player, describing him as “Scotland’s ultimate warrior”, but has also rarely seen him as anything other than a specialist No 8. So what does he do now that Stade Français, Taylor’s club, are picking him almost exclusively at lock? It is not as though Scotland need an extra lock, despite the problems during the summer. Nathan Hines returns to action this week after his 30-day ban and has shown in the past that he can handle long breaks and still come back in peak form.

Jim Hamilton has been playing out of his skin now that he is getting regular starts, Matt Mustchin was heroic in Argentina and all the other contenders – Scott Murray, Scott MacLeod, Craig Hamilton and Alastair Kellock – are also performing well, so there is no need for Taylor in this role.

Hadden will probably stick to his guns and keep Taylor in the back row, and he is also likely to bring Jason White along to the squad session despite his former captain being relegated to bench duty at Sale.

Since David Callam is the only absentee in this department – Ross Rennie, is hoping to return for Edinburgh against Connacht this week after recovering from his injuries – Hadden had plenty of options yesterday when he and his fellow selectors met to pick the squad.

Front row is more straightforward, with the only real choice being who will be the understudy to Euan Murray at tighthead, with Geoff Cross probably edging ahead of Moray Low on present form, though there is not much in it.

Behind the scrum, Rory Lawson was in the squad in June, but will not expect to be back in the autumn since he is not getting starts for Gloucester, his club, and Chris Cusiter, who will be joining forces with Dan Carter when the All Black joins Perpignan in December, has been showing the form that got him on to the 2005 Lions tour with his performances for the French club.

In the rest of the back division, only Simon Danielli has been struggling with injury but the return of both the Lamont brothers, Sean and Rory, who had knocks in the summer, means that someone else has to make way for their return in the back three.

The problem for Hadden is that both Scottish professional teams are struggling to turn scoring chances into tries – only Thom Evans, the Glasgow wing, has been showing international-quality finishing – and he still has to find a place for Chris Paterson.