Pessimism can sometimes seem to come a little too naturally to Scottish rugby fans, a certain fatalism worn almost as a badge of honour after too many days of disappointment and dejection, of squandered opportunities and wondering what might have been.
It perhaps feels somewhat appropriate, then, for Gregor Townsend to have assembled perhaps the finest side in the nation’s long rugby history and still know a second successive World Cup pool stage effort is on the cards if the tournament goes to form. Plenty has already been written about the lopsided draw but it feels particularly cruel to the Scots, inarguably among the top five sides in the world but drawn together with two of the four top favourites in the pool.
