When Graham Steadman said on Tuesday that, as Scotland's defence coach, he saw Thom Evans as something of a project partly because he has only been in the game for two years, it was a head-scratching moment for the rest of us.

Now in his third season as a full-time professional at Glasgow Warriors, the winger was previously on London Wasps' books. This time three years ago, before seeing the light, he made his first major impact on rugby in this part of the world by scoring two tries for England Under-21s in their thrashing of Scotland in Falkirk.

Was Steadman perhaps getting mixed up with Thom's brother Max, who followed his younger brother to the Warriors after qualifying as a pro golfer? If so, was it an important error?

When Steadman and Mike Brewer were appointed to the back-room team, one of the major explanations for their recruitment was their attention to detail. Yet Steadman's apparent slip was similar to Brewer's when the forwards coach offered us the benefit of his experience in discussing Scotland's second-half capitulation against South Africa in the autumn.

"I was in exactly the same situation the year I was with Ireland and they played Wales at the national stadium," he said. "They were leading something like 27-3 at half-time and the same thing as happened with Scotland against South Africa, they were shocked because they hadn't beaten Wales for years. In the second half we kicked the ball, Wales got back to 27-26 and I think we won the Test 30-26 in the end."

So much of that is plain wrong. The match in question, which finished 26-25, was in 1997 when Brewer was assisting Murray Kydd, his fellow Kiwi who was then Ireland's head coach.

Far from being shocked at being in front Ireland were quite used to winning in Wales back then. This was a bizarre period when only one home win was registered between those two sides in 11 meetings in the old Five Nations Championship between 1985 and 1995.

Furthermore, between Ireland's triple crown-winning season of 1985 and Wales' grand slam year in 2005, Ireland did not lose to Wales in 10 away games in the championship. The game in question was also Ireland's fourth win in a row over Wales, then an Irish record for the fixture.

Of course Brewer's flawed memory of that will not directly affect how Scotland perform but, in terms of providing insight into the quality of detail he is using in his analysis, it offers food for thought.

He and Steadman have spoken repeatedly about the amount of profiling of players they did before deciding whether they were prepared to come and work for Scotland, but that is a two-way street. They ought to have been closely scrutinised, too.

Brewer's only half-joking comment last week that Euan Murray would be back playing after damaging his ribs much sooner than Chris Paterson had earlier in the season because he wears a No.3 on his back rather than a No.15 might also have been telling.

The reality is that it is becoming patently clear that, if anything, the burly forward may take longer to get back than the relatively puny back, partly for the very reason I asked the question: because the position he plays applies more pressure to that part of his anatomy.

James Robson, the team doctor, was also dismissive of the idea that any squad member has a higher pain threshold than Paterson, whose longevity as he prepares to extend his national cap record next weekend demonstrates that.

In short, the comment from the admittedly rugged former All Black whose playing days were in the amateur era, smacked of old-school machismo. It might be seen as harmless enough banter, but with Brewer apparently wielding considerable influence in selection it could also be seen as dangerously indicative of a bullheaded attitude. Yesterday's pack selection suggested that may be a valid concern.

With little scope for further blunders, Scottish rugby now needs everyone involved with the national team to perform at their very best. The new coaches have said they have assessed the players and believe them to be good enough. But if the sort of profiling they are constantly talking about is important, then someone has to profile the profilers too. So far they have not measured up to their billing.

Their every word and action needs to be closely scrutinised and they have to do a lot better than they have so far.