VR labs, shaky Fijian footage and getting 'smashed' in training – the life of a top rugby analyst

"It's like a double-chessboard with 120kg pieces. You've got to find ways of being smarter than the opposition. In Test rugby, 1-2% might be the difference between a win and a loss."

This is how Gavin Vaughan, Scottish Rugby's lead performance analyst and renowned spotter of talent, views the sport he studies with incredible precision.

In one sitting, he can spend up to 20 hours hunched over a laptop, ripping matches apart, scrutinising tactics and trends, assessing referees right down to the tempo of their calls, examining in minute detail what an opponent does well and where he can be got at.

The volume of information he and his team generates for Gregor Townsend is remarkable - and it has to be. Each international side has access to the same match footage from the same angles and employs variations of the same technology. The pressure is on Vaughan to outfox his opposition.

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Scotland, the Welshman discusses scouring shaky footage from Fiji, visiting top NFL and NBA teams, and introducing virtual reality simulations to training.