It may be an old pals' reunion when Kevin Tkachuk and Euan Murray butt up against each other tomorrow, but the former Canada captain is not expecting any favours from his friend and former team-mate. For Tkachuk, the game against Scotland in Aberdeen is more about gaining respect than any expectation that his side might spring a surprise.

That is despite facing a Scotland side shorn of its leading goalkicker, Chris Paterson, who was forced off the field early in the match against South Africa last weekend with a cheek injury. Frustratingly for the home side, when the swelling went down enough for a detailed scan to be done, it gave him a clean bill of health, meaning that he could have played after all.

By then, however, Frank Hadden, the head coach, had selected the team and left him out rather than risk a late disruption, so the country's leading cap holder will take no part in a Scotland match for the first time since he smashed his cheek against Samoa in 2004 and missed the rest of that tour.

Without his reliable contribution from the boot and with the weather forecast predicting tricky conditions with wind and snow flurries, the team are going to have to win by scoring tries, though Tkachuk realises that his heavily outweighed pack are up against it facing a unit, anchored by Murray, that has done well against the All Blacks and Springboks.

“I was impressed, but I wouldn't say I was surprised because I know the guys are capable of beating teams like that now,” Tkachuk, who is in his fifth season with Glasgow, said. “If anything, I was disappointed that they didn't win against South Africa. When they were 10-0 up at half-time I thought they could do it. Their scrum was particularly good and Euan [Murray] was fantastic, but he had a very good pack behind him.”

Which will make their head-to-head confrontation even more enticing. Both came through the same system at Glasgow at about the same time, and know each other's games well. “I expect him to be a bit of a bear this weekend,” Tkachuk said. “We are good mates, we used to be really close at Glasgow, so I am really looking forward to the challenge. He has really come on. He has always done great things defensively and has improved his scrummaging to become one of the best tightheads in Britain.”

For Tkachuk personally, it has been a tough year after breaking his leg at the start of the 2007 campaign and so missing out on the World Cup. He has often languished on the bench for Glasgow but grabbed the starting spot in time to get a run of games last month and now he feels primed and ready to go.

“I am really looking forward to this weekend,” he said. “First, I want to give a good account of myself and then we have to give a good account of ourselves as a nation. Sometimes you are confronted with a lack of respect for the rugby that Canada plays, so for me and the boys it is really important, as it was last week and the weekend before, to make sure the world still recognises that Canada can play rugby and that we are still improving and coming up.”

To do that, he knows they are going to have to hold their own in the tight, and as Ross Ford, the Scotland hooker says, that is becoming harder and harder for opponents to achieve.

“We have done a lot of work and it is coming together well,” Ford said. “With Mike Brewer as forwards coach we have been able to sort out a few technical things to allow Euan to do his job even better. Euan has been getting a lot of headlines and they are totally deserved. That's his job and he is doing it superbly, so it is right that he gets that praise. It makes my life a lot easier too, which is always good.”