Watching Scots train shows vultures

Scotland’s Six Nations almost always plays out like the fortunes of a hot air balloon.

After a couple of games, the pumpedup pre-tournament promise dissipates and the hot air is removed by a sobering reality of same old story. Not this time.

Wins over England and Wales have blown up the expectations to a state where triumph over France today and we’ll begin the hyperbole of title talk.

Even without wanting to become a prophet of doom, a defeat wouldn’t be curtains as it will all boil down to a

Murrayfield clash against Ireland in a fortnight. Being a touchline witness to Scotland’s training session at the Stade de France yesterday was a privilege and it enhanced this belief we now have a side acting AsOne.

There’s a confidence and collective spirit within Gregor Townsend’s squad, which can carry us to historic heights in this tournament and beyond into the World Cup later this year.

As a former professional team sport player, you can smell it when noses are out of joint within any group.

At Clyde we had a large squad and the boys left out on a Saturday would sit up in a corporate box to watch the game. We called them the “vulture squad”. There they would sit, eyes burning down on the pitch hoping for an injury, a poor performance and a defeat to prise open a way for themselves to get back into the side.

It’s a fact that it’s more than always the case in football. The “vulture squads” can be found at every single club and it can poison the pool.

Sean Maitland, George Horne and Luke Crosbie make this case in point.

They are just a few of the players who have a great case to be starting today but there they were yesterday, no huffing, no ill-wishing, just getting

on with the job of being part of a squad truly the sum of all parts.

It’s a crucial part of the success dynamic for any side. Townsend’s been the head coach for almost six years. This has been a slow burner of a journey towards having a team who have matured to the stage there is s something genuine e about our hopes of f landing a first Six x Nations. There’s a reason Scotland d can go decades not t winning in Paris. We did it in

2021 but it was a Covid-19 fanfree affair and this will be a different kettle of poisson.

Even if it all doesn’t go according to plan, that hot air balloon will still have more than enoug e h a i r inside in to carry the th campaign on.

Scot l and can beat b France but it’s the th Ireland question that th will matter more.