Paterson has plenty left

With the exception of a season playing for Gloucester, the 33-year-old has been at Edinburgh since 1999 and played in nine seasons of Celtic Rugby in its various guises.

He is on course to play in a fourth World Cup this September but has revealed there will be many other fields to conquer upon his return to Edinburgh.

Paterson, who has racked up 773 league points for the capital city side, signed a new two-year contract in February and has no intentions of hanging up his boots any time in the near future.

"I have no plans to stop playing," Patterson told the Scotsman.

"Your body dictates a lot, of course, and at the moment I feel good and I just want to continue to improve and I'm as enthusiastic as ever.

"I'm a great believer in dealing with what is in front of you.

"More people than me have adapted better. Take Jim Telfer who has been involved in 40 years of rugby coaching and think of the developments there have been there particularly in developing from an amateur to a professional game.

"Plenty of others played for Scotland through both and I came in right at the end of the amateur era although I was first capped effectively out of Gala. You learn to adapt by using the advice of people around you."

Paterson is taking nothing for granted about being retained in Scotland's World Cup squad when it is cut from 40-men to 30. But he hopes there will be a large Edinburgh contingent and that they can return to their club with a World Cup buzz.

"I don't know how many players Edinburgh will lose and you hope it is more rather than fewer; the immediate aftermath of the 2003 World Cup produced one of our best seasons," added Paterson.