Saturday will drift into Sunday as the post-mortem begins on another largely underwhelming Scotland Six Nations campaign.
The clock will be approaching midnight local time by the time Gregor Townsend appears inside the Stade de France to address this evening’s match with France and probably his own future, as well.
Players will be cajoled into speaking in a media mixed zone when they would almost certainly rather be back at their hotel or getting ready for an early flight home.
The Six Nations is a gruelling, exhausting competition that offers those in the midst of it little respite. It will become even tougher next year when the second fallow week is removed from the calendar, with five demanding Test matches soon to be squeezed into a six-week block.
The games come thick and fast offering little scope for mid-tournament reflection but that frenzy will come to an abrupt stop when the final whistle is blown around 11pm here in Paris. And from that moment until the onset of the summer tour, there will be plenty of opportunities to take stock.
There will surely be regret from a Scottish perspective, regardless of how this evening’s contest plays out. Should the visitors somehow upset the odds to win and deny France the title — as they did four years ago — then there will, of course, be an immediate outpouring of exhilaration and elation.
The Scots came out on top in a nervy victory over Wales at Murrayfield last time out
An a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of England ended Scotland’s Six Nations chances
Head coach Gregor Townsend continues to face questions regarding his future
Once that initial high has subsided, however, there will come also pangs of remorse regarding the opportunities missed earlier in the tournament, most notably at Twickenham when Scotland were the better side for large spells but still couldn’t find a way to win. Finn Russell will harbour regrets at his three missed conversion kicks for a while should that scenario come to pass.
The more likely outcome, however, is that Scotland are steamrollered by a French pack on a mission to win the Championship in front of their own fans and in honour of their stricken captain, Antoine Dupont.
Should Scotland succumb to what many believe to be their fate then they will be left picking over the bones of another campaign in which they have managed just two wins at home against unfancied Wales and Italy. And neither of those victories was achieved in a straightforward fashion, either.
Still, ending the campaign on a positive note would make the debrief a lot easier to stomach than if Scotland were to be pounded into the ground by 50 points or more as some are fearing. Beating France — even if it does end up handing the title to Ireland or England — would give cause for optimism heading into the summer and could also temper talk of a regime change.
To achieve it, though, Scotland will almost certainly need to finally produce something that has taken on almost mythical status in recent years — the 80-minute performance.
Time after time we have seen this backline rip teams apart as they move the ball wide through the backs at devastating pace, almost inevitably leading to a Scotland try. In Russell, Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe, Townsend can call upon genuine world-class operators.
The problem, however, is that as a team they can never sustain that threat for the entirety of a match. That could be down to mentally switching off, poor fitness or, most likely, a lack of depth among the replacement forwards who aren’t at the same level as the starting pack.
That latter issue will come to the fore once again tonight. Scotland’s starters could well hold their own for the opening 50 to 60 minutes but, when Fabien Galthie turns to his bench and replaces all but one of his forwards, it will leave the visitors having to almost start all over again.
Finn Russell puts in the final preparations ahead of tonight’s clash against France in Paris
France captain Gregory Alldritt (centre) leads the players during a training session
And, with respect, the likes of Ewan Ashman, Will Hurd, Ben Muncaster and Marshall Sykes simply aren’t yet at the level of their French counterparts.
So, Scotland will approach this evening’s challenge warily but not without motive or intent. Galthie revealed earlier this week that, when the Scots beat France in similar circumstances in 2021, Townsend told him afterwards that the thought of spoiling the party had served as fuel for him and his players.
The Scotland head coach tends to be more deferential in public and has made no such bullish statements ahead of this one but Russell admits the chance to be ‘disruptors’ is something he is relishing on his return to the city where he spent five years as a Racing 92 player.
‘It’s always a massive challenge coming here to Stade de France to beat France,’ he admitted. ‘They’ve got the title on the line and everything to play for. Hopefully, we can disrupt it. But I know it’s going to be a massive challenge. We’re just going to prepare as best as we can for the game and we’ll see what happens.’
Russell also did not shy away from the fact that there will be regrets in the tournament debrief, regardless of how tonight goes. ‘Hopefully, we manage to get the result. And if we get a win, then we’d probably look back at one of my kicks that could have had us winning the title.
‘Once you get to the end of the tournament, then you can fully assess how it’s been and how you’ve played. And unfortunately, at this level, it’s all about the results.’
