Scotland keeping it Nice and quiet in the south of France

Townsend had arranged for his squad to have three days off after that first outing, win or lose. Most of them spent it with families before knuckling back down for the game against Tonga this Sunday.

TICKING ALONG: Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend. Pic: David Davies/PA Wire.

If Paris, where Ireland and South Africa clash in the game of the weekend, is the centre of the rugby universe, no-one is further removed from it than a Scotland team going quietly about its business over 900 miles to the southeast in Nice.

We say Nice, but the team is housed well outside the city that sits on the Mediterranean coastline and in the small town of Valbonne. Their work-station is the home of the local amateur rugby club, Stade Nicoise, which is itself at some remove from the city centre.