The sprawling, sports-led campus of Hartpury College lies just a few miles north of Gloucester. It is a good place to be on a bright, early autumn afternoon, a corner of England where shirt-sleeved students stroll around the grounds, the first XV's goal-kickers go through their routines on the main pitch, and an impromptu game of rounders gets underway in the background. You could easily forget your troubles here.

Which is just what Bryan Redpath seems to have done as he saunters into view. He scatters goodwill with such enthusiasm that you might be forgiven for thinking his team was running away with the Premiership, not languishing near the bottom. But then, this is an out-of-town college, not the in-your-face experience that walking the streets of Gloucester can become.

Glostrophobia. The word isn't in the dictionary yet, but it gives a good sense of the kind of pressure felt by anyone associated with the club when things aren't going according to plan. Is he feeling the heat? Just a bit, but not so much that he is in any danger of wilting under it. And as he was once written off by none other than Jim Telfer as being too small to play top-level rugby but subsequently won 60 caps for Scotland, he can just about cope when people start doubting his abilities.

"I like the underdog status, I like it when people are knocking us, I like the fact we get criticised and I like the fact we have to put our chins up and push our chests out and get on with it. I like being challenged. If people say we're the underdogs then that's great. If people are criticising us, well I like that too."

No hiding place – and no respite. Gloucester's competitive programme could mean playing every weekend from mid-August to mid-May, a harsh and unrelenting schedule that allows little time to ease off the gas. And while there might be an element of subjectivity in the Gloucester supporters' expectations, the benchmarks of actual success are unequivocal. To get into the Premeirship playoffs they must finish in the top four of the league; to make the Heineken Cup next season they must be in the top six.

"Is it easier in the Magners League?" he asks. "It has to be. They don't have the fear of losing or the fear of not finishing near the top of the league and getting into Europe. The Scottish teams don't have to finish anywhere, they just get in every time.

"People have said that the Premiership is not as good to watch because of it, but on the other side of the coin I think England have sometimes been able to cope with the southern hemisphere sides because they have been able to tighten games up and win. The theory was that the Premiership gave them that kind of game, whereas the Celtic nations just threw the ball about and got turned over by a massive score.

It is unusual enough for Gloucester to have a Scottish head coach, more unusual still that they have so many Scottish players on their books as well. And a decent bunch they are too, internationals all, which helps to deflect any potential criticism that the coach has favoured countrymen on any basis other than raw ability. Scrum-half Rory Lawson and flanker Alasdair Strokosch are among the best in their respective positions in England, while front-row players Alasdair Dickinson and Scott Lawson are improving at a rate that ought to gladden the heart of Scotland coach Andy Robinson.

"I'm a passionate Scotsman and I'm all for guys playing international rugby, but I've to be aware of the impact that has here. I'm not in this to ruin anyone's career and I think it is important to have an avenue to play at a higher level, but what I do is what's right for Gloucester.

"It's not something I can think about too much. If Andy or any international coach asks if I can rest a player on one weekend, and if I think it's the right thing and I have someone else to cover the position and cope with it, then I'll certainly look at it. But I'm not in this just to make the international team better. Their winning or losing has no relevance to my job."

Well, not yet anyway. As focused as he may be on Gloucester and the inner contentment of those supporters who pack into Kingsholm, Redpath does not beat around the bush on the matter of his desire to coach Scotland.

"Of course I would want to coach my country. I know it's a big job and a massive challenge, but I still look back on my time with Scotland and have a lot of happy memories. I loved playing for Scotland and being around the stadium, the players, the supporters and the passion. I also enjoyed the underdog status."

That status seems to be part of the furniture of Redpath's life. As wise a judge as Telfer was, even he underestimated how motivated the little scrum-half might be. "In fairness, Jim came out years later and said he might have been wrong," Redpath smiles. "And he had never said I wasn't good enough."