Scotland v Wales: ‘Gregor Townsend can’t avoid flak if Scotland don’t justify favourites tag’

Maybe that’s why Finn Russell, as opposed to Scotland’s other co-captain Rory Darge, did media on Friday. Maybe Scottish Rugby felt they needed some stardust, a galvanising presence to fire up the fans and convince them that, yes, the championship bid is over, but yes again, there is something big to play for here.

The ‘something big’ is back-foot stuff, though. They’re playing to avoid a nightmare rather than to keep a dream alive. Their motivation is to avert the horror show of one win from four with a trip to Paris to come and the grand inquisition of the coaches that would come with it.

Scottish heads are done in. Scotland are ranked number one in the tournament for fewest tries conceded, fewest tackles missed and most ball carries, number two for metres gained, line breaks, breakdown steals and tries scored.

And yet they sit fourth in the table and are already out of contention for the big prize.

Still we hear the mumbo-jumbo from former players in other places about Scotland supposedly talking themselves up. During the week, the great Welsh and Lions scrum-half Mike Phillips joined the list of people who don’t understand Scottish rugby and the fatalism that has run through it for close to a quarter of a century.

Phillips said the Scots have been predicting Six Nations glory for 20 years, a comment so remarkable that people here will remember it in the way they remember where they were when they heard Elvis had died.

(Younger readers: swap Taylor Swift for Elvis and replace ‘died’ with ‘releasing a new album’ or some such revelation).

Predictions of greatness? Many Scottish rugby fans look 20 years older than they actually are because of all the angst they’ve gone through. Phillips has been living in an alternate reality this whole time.