Scotland attack coach Gregor Townsend insists the division of the captaincy between scrum-halves Mike Blair and Chris Cusiter can empower the side.

Andy Robinson has been criticised for the decision to rotate the captain’s armband between his half-backs.

But Townsend believes the doubters should save their criticism until they have seen the results on the pitch in the November internationals.

He said: “We’ve got them in certain areas like attack, defence, set-piece, but to have two captains just adds to that, that we have someone on the field who’s going to be the leader, someone off the field, and they can rely on each other to move the team forward.

“It is a unique idea, but one thing we’re trying to do is create a learning environment and also give responsibility and empowerment to the players, so we need as many leaders as we can.

“I think we’ve got a very good situation in having Chris and Mike and Rory (Lawson) as well, who plays at Gloucester – three very good scrum-halves in the squad – knowing they have got someone there to support them, that can add knowledge.”