Scotland players at Gloucester and the Ospreys have been told that they could be putting their international places at risk if their clubs pick them for this weekend’s EDF Cup matches. Both clubs play on Sunday and, speaking yesterday from the Scotland training camp in Spain, Frank Hadden, the coach, made it clear that the short build-up to the New Zealand game might not give them enough time to recover properly.

“To be able to play New Zealand after playing 80 minutes five days before is a very, very difficult thing to do,” he said. “We have to be mindful of the fact these guys are not going to be firing on all cylinders at the start of next week, so they are definitely in a difficult situation.

“It is quite sad that we are not just saying ‘who are the best players to play against the All Blacks’, but we have to consider all these things – how much game time a guy has this weekend, what day he played, what state he is in. There will be some guys where we have to work out whether they will be able to cope with the massive demands we will be putting on them from Monday onwards.

“It would be foolish for us to make a blanket rule, though. We have to look at each player on an individual basis. I’m happy for Nathan Hines at Perpignan and Jason White at Sale to be playing this weekend because they need game time, but there are others we would prefer to be resting.”

While all the players based in England, France and Wales are affected, the ones in the worst position are Alasdair Strokosch and Alasdair Dickinson, of Gloucester, plus Nikki Walker at the Ospreys, with both clubs facing Sunday fixtures. Rory Lawson could also have been affected but the rib injury that kept him at home this week, when the rest of the squad were training in Spain, is also likely to keep him out of club action.

Hadden believes that the camp in La Manga has been a great success. It may have been forced on them by the building work that ruled out using the back pitches at Murrayfield, but it has done wonders for team spirit and accelerated the speed with which the players have adjusted to the new forwards and defence coaches, Mike Brewer and Graham Steadman.

“I think we’ve been absolutely delighted at the way the players have responded and I’m confident that we are ahead of where we otherwise would have been at this stage in the build-up,” he said. “We’ve had some great feedback from the players about the quality of the camp and what the new coaches have brought. It has been time well spent and we’ve jammed a hell of a lot in this short period. I’m happier with where we are than I was going into to the Six Nations.”

In fact, he added, the camp had been such a success that, in terms of enthusiasm and determination, the players are ready to take on the All Blacks this weekend, though he feels that there is still work to be done on organisation and the cohesion of the side.

“The atmosphere in the camp is such that we’d be happy to play them tomorrow, because we see this as a really exciting opportunity,” he said.

In terms of organisation, he has been using White as the fourth lock – a position in which he has played before, though most of his international rugby has been at flanker – but refused to rule out the possibility of also using Simon Taylor in the role since the No 8 has been filling that position with Stade Français, his club side.

“The feedback I’ve had is how well he has been going, how respected he is in the squad and the huge impact that he’s having. That’s all good news for us,” Hadden said.

That is just one of the selection dilemmas on which the coaches have yet to reach a firm decision – there is no point, Hadden said, in trying to nail down the team until they know exactly who is available and what sort of physical state they are in – and a certain amount could hinge on what they can pick up from watching the experimental New Zealand lineup in action against Australia in Hong Kong tomorrow morning.