Chris Paterson last captained Scotland under coach Matt Williams

"It's a great honour and something I'll treasure," said Paterson, who last led the side out in 2004.

"But it comes under difficult circumstances with losing our captain Jason White, who is out for however long with a knee injury.

"He's a huge miss both in terms of leadership and performance."

Interview: Scotland captain Chris Paterson

Despite the loss of White, Paterson said Scotland's squad was a happy camp since every player knew what head coach Frank Hadden wanted them to do on the field.

"Frank trusts us first and foremost and trusts the players who will take to the field to make the right decisions," Paterson said.

"That gives the player huge confidence."

However, Paterson believes Scotland will be put to the test on Saturday, especially if Rupeni Caucaunibuca is named in the Pacific Islanders team.

The Fijian winger, commonly referred to as Caucau, missed the start of the tour after misplacing his passport and being stranded in France, where he plays for Agen.

We need to play a controlled game and take the opportunities when they come Chris Paterson

"I would rate him (Caucau) as probably the best attacking player in the world," said Paterson.

"When he played for Fiji against us in the World Cup he was absolutely outstanding, and he's just an out and out match-winner.

Paterson also watched Caucau in action for Agen against his club Edinburgh in this season's Heineken Cup.

"That match was his first in a long time, and the impact he had was huge.

"Every time he touched the ball he was a huge threat. He has the capability to cause as much damage as Jonah Lomu did in his prime."

The Fiji, Samoa and Tonga select lost 38-20 to Wales at the weekend.

"They will have been quite disappointed with their first-half performance against Wales, but in the second half they found their feet," added Paterson.

"This week they'll be even better because they've had a seven more days to prepare.

"Against Wales you could see that they were prepared to attack from anywhere, and that's far more difficult to defend against, so we are going to have to be disciplined about what we want to do.

"We need to play a controlled game and take the opportunities when they come, because if we are too loose then their world-class attacking players will punish us.'

The versatile Paterson will be at full-back, having played on the wing in his previous eight appearances for Scotland.

"The back three positions are interchangeable so I am not concerned about the switch," said Paterson who came off the bench in the win over Romania last Saturday.

"I have played probably as many times for Scotland at full-back as on the wing and having been asked to cover stand-off last week I was given every opportunity to prepare even though I wasn't required to move forward."