Townsend revealed that the 36-14 defeat to Ireland in Paris in the 2023 Rugby World Cup was a particular watershed for his team. And while Sunday’s 32-18 loss makes it look like the Scots are still a distance away from competing in this fixture, the head coach was keen to stress a bigger picture.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend: "Finn [Russell is] fine. He actually passed his HIA but our staff sensed he wasn't totally aware of what was going on, so we made the call to not put him back on. "Darcy [Graham] is at hospital now, I've not had an update. I think everything was OK with his neck but they were checking out concussion.

I don’t think there’s any extra rivalry, but it’s definitely more on the Irish side,” said Gregor Townsend ahead of Scotland’s Six Nations clash with Ireland. “I think teams want to build up something to provide extra motivation so maybe it’s more on the Irish side or the Irish media side that there’s this rivalry or needle to give them extra motivation on why they want to win again.

The Scots have lost each of their last 10 meetings against the Irish in a run stretching back to February 2017.