«THE DAY TOWNSEND’S TERRIERS GAVE SCOTLAND BACK ITS PRIDE

Brave defeat that provided a tantalising glimpse of a brighter road

HEADS up, lads. Chests out, eyes towards the horizon. You’ve got no reason to berate yourselves. No cause to feel anything less than heroes. Sure, the scoreline may not have gone your way. Not this time. Blame the ref. Or simply the fact that, you know, New Zealand are the world champions and undisputed No 1 team on the planet.

But Scotland? They are a rugby nation going places. At speed. And with serious intent.

As Kiwi coach Steve Hansen so graciously put it, anyone with an interest in our national XV should be ‘really thankful for the team you’ve got — and how good they’re going to be.’

It’s a tantalising thought, where Gregor Townsend might take this bunch. Even the most hard-hearted cynic may grow to love ‘em with absolute abandon.

Because, while often it feels morally wrong to celebrate any kind of loss, what happened at Murrayfield on Saturday night should never be mistaken for just another glorious failure.

Most of us are astute enough to recognise those for the false gods that they are. But this was different.

An entirely transformed feeling to, for instance, the last visit of the All Blacks three years ago.

Back then, a 24-16 loss against a weakened visiting team wasn’t nearly as close as the scoreline suggests.

It would be easy, then, for the unobservant to look at a 22-17 loss and file it right alongside all the previous defeats narrow enough to be misdiagnosed as a moral victory.

But let’s pick apart that argument, piece by piece. First, Scotland did not just turn in a brave and ballsy display, dragging more skilled opponents through some muddy torture.

On a dry, perfect evening for running rugby, the Scots showed skills in abundance. And the ambition to play. Nor did Townsend’s men pull the tourists down to a more mundane level, somehow making the All Blacks look ordinary.

No, New Zealand were close to their best. Take a look at their third try, going from the base of a scrum just inside halfway to crossing the whitewash in about five seconds, and try to argue that they were somehow ‘off’ in their application.

But Scotland matched them, even outplayed them for spells. And, amid a slow-burning atmosphere that finally caught