Andy Titterrell, a title winner with Sale Sharks who has toured with the British & Irish Lions, spent most of his career in the English Premiership and knows what it is like to fight for survival in a competition which relegates its weakest.
Consequently, he can place his team's plight in having effectively been eliminated from the Heineken Cup, into proper perspective as they seek to get their season back on track against the Scarlets tonight.
"I've had quite a long career so far and I've been in worse situations than this where we've been scraping around the bottom and gone through relegation battles going down to the second to last game of the season," said the 31-year-old.
"That was with Leeds and we stayed up. We won games when it mattered clawing back what was an 11 or 12-point deficit at one stage of the season and we got something out of every game which was our main focus.
"Obviously this is the first year I've played Rabo and there is, for all teams, no fear of getting relegated or losing your job. I've been in that position a couple of times and you fight for your life when you're out there and you come to learn what it takes to win games, how to pull together, how to dig deep. I think that's the most important thing. I've also been around experienced guys and younger guys that take this sport for granted and take their position within rugby for granted and for those players that give their all it does let them down."
The last of those comments debunks the idea that the sort of complacency that the evolving Celtic/Italian competition can tend to generate among those repeatedly operating at the lower end, is unique to relegation-free competition given Titterrell's playing history.
In essence his message is that individual self-respect is more of a motivating factor than anything external.
"I believe fear is what makes us survive," said Titterrell. "You get to know who you can count on in games when you have that pressure. You know if you're in a crunch game if you're in a Rabo final, a Premiership final, whatever, you need to know you can count on everyone around you.
"It's got to come from within. I've been in the game long enough to see players take it for granted. They're quite happy to be second or third choice, come in training, wash and go home sort of thing, whereas you want a squad that wants to push players, a squad that wants to achieve things and that's where it comes from within a squad and it's up to individuals to help drive that . . . youngsters as well as older players. That's what the sport's all about."
It is also the case that whereas in the past it has been unfair to criticise players and coaches who were badly under-resourced compared to their rivals, the vast increase in funding now available to Scotland's professional teams has transformed expectations.
That seems to be understood by frontline troops, however, and Titterrell indicated that those who have made vital individual errors are taking full responsibility for their contribution to the wider discomfort. "To lose the way we've done, especially conceding the tries we have in the last few minutes is poor," he admitted. "Rugby is a collision sport, it's confrontational and a couple of lapses by individuals jumping out of the line and missed tackles have cost us dearly. Those guys are working hard with our defence coach to put that right."
For all that the absence of relegation from the Pro12 and automatic entry of Scottish teams into Europe may have played a part in creating a lack of urgency within Scottish professional rugby culture, the hooker sees no evidence of complacency among his current team-mates. "The guys here are very focused on what we want to achieve this year," he said. "A lot was talked about Europe before I came or in pre-season, but an awful lot was talked about the Rabo, too and I'm sure I can speak for all the other guys in the squad and also the new players . . . we don't play sport to be propping up the table. We play to win championships, to compete against the best and that's our season's goal, to get into the play-offs. I've played in teams where we've won and played poorly and winning can become a habit just as much as losing."
