If Rae does end up in the box-seat, it will be a huge ask for a player who started his senior rugby career as a 17-year-old in the Ayr side which won the Premiership in 2012-13, and whose pro career has since taken in spells with Glasgow Warriors, Benetton on loan, London Scottish on loan, Bath, Montpellier and most recently Edinburgh.

He is a player who has tended to float under the radar, but Dalziel insists that the now 30-year-old’s game and physique is suited to international rugby.

“We’ve got good depth here around that [tight-head prop position] and what we’ve been able to do in Zander’s absence is to get caps into the guys around it like D’Arcy Rae who’s been around the Scotland squad for a long period of time and got his first start at the weekend,” said Dalziel.

“So it’s been great for him to build that up and build that cohesion. His game is really suited to Test rugby as well, so yeah it’s been disappointing not to have Zander but it’s been excellent in terms of growing that depth.

“You are on a journey with your rugby career,” replied Dalziel, when asked to reflect on Rae being an example of a player who has not always had the breaks in terms of selection and playing opportunities, but has still managed to keep himself in the frame for a period of over a decade. “You can come through then you go to something new – and he ended up at Bath then came back to Edinburgh – so he’s been around a long time.”

“I was lucky enough to have him in the under 20s and have watched his progress, and at Glasgow as well, and he always comes back round to international rugby because his game suits that kind of game.

“In terms of his club, his form and other players around that, you might never see it. But his determination and work-rate has got him back and he’s in probably the best shape he’s ever been in terms of his game and how he controls himself, so yeah he’s been a good asset.

“His set-piece power and the way he stops power, I think he can be at his very best when the stakes are really high, and in the big moments he comes to the fore.”

Head coach Gregor Townsend indicated after Saturday’s big win over the USA that he expected to finalise his match-day 23 to face New Zealand by Monday evening, but that was not set in stone and he appears to have decided to give himself an extra day to give the likes of Fagerson and flanker Rory Darge as much time as possible to prove their fitness.

“Both of them made big strides last week,” said Dalziel. “Obviously, Zander’s been out for a long period of time so to back up both days last week [was important]. Tomorrow will be a big day on that and I think Gregor will give an update after that but ,really, it’ll be a case of trying to make the right decision for him as well.

“It’s a long time to be out and I know we all want to see him back as soon as possible, and we’re hopeful that he’ll be on track, but we’ll do the right thing with him and see how he is to train tomorrow.

“We know Zander very well and it’s not that we’ve been working a deadline. Everything he’s been doing to tick off to get to the stage to be able to train two days a week has been done. He’s had the hours put into him to get him to that stage, but we’re not just going to throw him out there to play 70 or 80 minutes as we’ve maybe seen in the past. There will be a plan in place.”

Dalziel added that stand-off Adam Hastings has been cleared to take a full part in this week’s build-up. “Through the alert and the mouthguard, he failed his first test and then he’s passed two and three so the doctor’s passed him fit,” the coach explained. “He joined in with skills and stuff today as well, so all good to play, no concussion.”