Former captain Brown missed the RBS 6 Nations with a knee injury and Ford stepped up to the plate and while he admits he’s happy to see the Saracens flanker back he doesn’t want to relinquish the skipper’s role.

Scotland face New Zealand on November 11, with matches against South Africa and Tonga to follow but it’s the match against the All Blacks that is foremost in Ford’s mind

It will be the first opportunity coach Andy Robinson will have to decide whether Ford or Brown will lead the side out and while Scotland have never beaten New Zealand Ford claims he’d relish the challenge of putting that right.

“I would love to captain the team against New Zealand and be captain for the autumn Test series,” said Ford.

“Kelly is coming back but I’m quite happy with the job I’ve done up to now so we’ll see what happens. I feel fine with it now.

“I think you naturally learn things and I’ve had a run of games now and learned how to do things a wee bit differently, maybe not talk all the time and rely on boys who can take on other areas and share the workload.

“Not worrying about every aspect is important because you learn that we have good enough players and leaders, so the big thing is trusting guys to do their job and just be there to add polish, maybe. You improve with every game, so I’d say I am better now than when I first took the job on.

“We [Ford and Robinson] often have talks and he’s said he’s happy with what I’m doing, so it’s up to him what he wants to do come the autumn Tests. I’ve enjoyed it and would like to keep doing it but whatever he decides is best for the team I’m happy to go along with.

“This is a brilliant challenge. They are the best team in the world and you want to play them and beat them. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and an 80-minute performance but you go into games like that with a belief that you can win, so nothing changes really.”