Leading Lion Russell must get his Scottish charges rolling before any thought Aussie summer

First things first, of course. Beat Ireland on Sunday and every Scot will be eying the Lions.

Scotland's Finn Russell prepares to kick a conversion under the watchful eye of the TV. Pic: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

Here we go again. Another Six Nations, another ‘now or never’ moment in time for Scotland and a ‘golden generation’ of players that has continued to fall short of transferring undoubted progress this last few years into promise fulfilled.

The suspicion is that all the chess pieces have to fall smoothly into place for Gregor Townsend’s side to achieve their nirvana. Then they lose key men like Sione Tuipulotu and Scott Cummings and others to injury pre-tournament. Ho hum.