Six Nations: Scotland's great expectations against England as hope of impending joy met with suspicion

It was the novelist Jennifer Donnelly who came up with a line about a man on the edge in New York, but that could easily be applied to Scots on the edge at Murrayfield.

«Hope is the crystal meth of emotions, it hooks you fast and kills you hard.» With six wins from their last 10 Six Nations games, with victories in England and France and Wales, with their losses being narrow and their progress obvious, the hope thing is back in play for Scotland.

A settled side, no injuries, home advantage, a winning record in the Calcutta Cup in the four years that Gregor Townsend and Eddie Jones have coached against each other. Scotland have more Lions in their starting line-up than England, more partnerships with more Tests played together. It points to a home win, but…

For more than 20 years of failure in the Six Nations, these Scotland fans were vaccinated against optimism, but this new variant is breaking through their defences. Scepticism about a bright new dawn is their booster, but positive cases are on the rise none the less. People are worried because hope is breaking through.

It's been amusing to listen to the views of outsiders looking in on Scotland and assessing the collective mindset of the rugby nation.

Once again we heard from Jones that the Scots are expecting glory. The reality is this: if you interviewed every Scottish fan walking through the gate for the Calcutta Cup on Saturday, you'd encounter twisted knots of anticipation and dread. Two decades of failure does that to a fan.

They approach talk of impending joy with suspicion. The Scots have never finished second in the Six Nations, not to mind first. They've been bottom or second bottom on 12 occasions. They have four wooden spoons, three of them with five defeats