The Scots have made giant strides under the former Edinburgh Gunners boss after he succeeded Matt Williams last year.

Hadden guided his side to a creditable third place in the RBS 6 Nations Championship, with the team playing with a new-found confidence to claim wins over France, England and Italy.

A clash with the Barbarians is next up at Murrayfield on May 31 before Haddens squad head to South Africa for two Tests against the Springboks - the first in Durban on June 10 and the second in Port Elizabeth on June 17.

Hadden is aware of the size of task his side face against the southern hemisphere giants, but insists his preparations began weeks ago.

He said: I started thinking about South Africa two days after the Italy game in mid-March, thats just the nature of the beast.

A lot of preparation work goes into these things and its a massive challenge.

Everybodys aware they are the most physical side in the world of rugby.

Weve played a lot of physical teams in the last 12 months but this is the ultimate challenge for us physically and were playing them in their own backyard, so it will be really tough.

Hadden has already lost scrum-half Chris Cusiter for the tour, with the 23-year-old out for up to four months after tearing a pectoral tendon in the closing RBS 6 Nations match in Rome.

With Cusiter and Edinburgh's Mike Blair enjoying a healthy rivalry for the number nine jersey, Cusiters injury is a blow, but Hadden knows his side have to battle on and focus on developing their attacking play.

He added: We think we have a bit of development work to do on our attacking game and, hopefully, the dry conditions down there will help us.

It is not ideal to lose Chris from our attacking options, but, at the same time, he has to be ready for the start of next season.

He is an experienced player and there will be no problems with his recovery.