WHAT a fantastic few days it has been for fans of Scotland and the British and Irish Lions.
Gregor Townsend could not have asked for a better start to his career as head coach of Scotland, who were very good value for their five try win over Italy, and followed that up with the victory over Australia that was simply sensational.
It was indeed sweet revenge for the Scots’ exit from the World Cup at the hands of the Wallabies, and the third Scotland try scored by Hamish Watson will go down in the video record books as one of the best scored by Scotland in years.
The signs are there for a good future for Townsend and his men, and the fact that the squad has such strength in depth is testament to the gospel preached by Vern Cotter and by Townsend himself at Glasgow that a modern squad needs cover in every department and preferably three or four players competing for each position.
Now all that is needed is a win against Fiji to give Townsend the perfect summer.
It will not be easy, because the Fijians will always put up a fight on home territory, and indeed they hammered Scotland 51-26 in Suva in 1998.
The Scotland players know what needs to be done, however, and more importantly they appear to have the ammunition to take on anybody at the moment.
To be in the top four in the world two years ahead of the World Cup in Japan is quite remarkable, but it also raises the bar for Scottish expectation.
It means that Scotland should really now be looking to be one of the semi-finalists, at least, in Japan and anything less will seem like a failure.
For the Lions, all the kidding and joking is over and the Test on Saturday in Auckland will arguably be the toughest match some of the Lions have ever played.
They are going into a battle against the best team in the world and while they may not still have the players that won them the World Cup, the All Blacks just don’t do transitioning– as Jim Telfer was always happy to preach, there is no such thing as a bad All Black.
It will be a very tough much indeed and realistically, the Lions should not prevail against the Blacks, but the victory against the Chiefs in Wakato yesterday will have boosted the morale in the camp and surely the best that Britain and Ireland can offer must be good enough to at least give the all-conquering All Blacks one hell of a game.
It should not do so, but the end result may come down to a bit of luck here and there, or, heaven forbid, a poor refereeing decision.
Warren Gatland has laid out his stock for all to see, and has taken much criticism over his selections for the squad, but if the Lions win on Saturday all will be forgotten and Gatling will be one win away from achieving a series victory that would make rugby history.
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