NEW Scotland assistant coach Nathan Hines believes his fresh memories of playing will help him slip into his new role as mentor to some of the younger players in the squad for the Rugby World Cup.

The 39-year-old only stopped playing for Sale a few weeks ago after accepting head coach Vern Cotter’s offer to join his team, but in the last years of his career was effectively an on-field coach.

Having worked with Cotter at Clermont Auverne in France, Hines was eager to rejoin a man for whom he has a lot of respect.

“I just like the way he operates,” said Hines, who won 77 Scotland caps between 2000 and 2011. “He’s straight up, he’s honest, he likes things pretty simple.

“He has old-school values: being a man, not hiding. He likes a bit of confrontation as well.

"I think that’s something the players respect: being told what’s happening, and not being told one thing and another thing being thought.

“He likes a bit of confrontation during the game - hard players, hard carries, forwards doing their job. And conversely confrontation if you’re not doing well and not hitting your targets.

“He’s not afraid to tell you. There’s no room in the game for politeness. It’s all about honesty.

"We're here to do the best we can and go as far down the line, be as successful as we can. And sometimes being told that you’re overweight or not fit enough - you need to be told and make changes, otherwise you’re not going to get the best out of yourself and give your best to your team-mates.”

Hines still had a year of his contract with Sale to go when the offer came in from Cotter, but he had already decided it was probably time to hang up his boots.

In his new role, which has the title of resource coach, he will carry on some of the work he did with Clermont in certain areas of the game, but he will also be responsible for mentoring some of the less experienced players in the build-up to the World Cup.

“When I was at Clermont, I did lineout, attack, defence, opportunities around the set-piece and stuff. If you’d asked me 10 years ago would I be interested in coaching, I think I’d probably have said no.

"But in time the age gap between myself and the other players widens. I’ve got more experience, so you end up helping out, then you get more responsibility. It happened naturally.

“My role is to help the younger kids, mentoring a little bit, so it’s a bit more personal than being a coach. I think even as a coach you’ve got to interact with your players to some degree.

"You can’t work out how a guy ticks, how to get the best out of somebody, if you don’t know them on a personal level. You can still get to know someone and bark at them at the same time, but hopefully it gets to the point where they don’t need to be barked at.

“I can talk to them: I’ve only just finished playing three weeks ago, I played at the last World Cup so I know what this preparation is like.

"It’s tough. Fifteen weeks down the line seems like a long way, but everything they do now counts.”