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There was, of course, an element of tongue in cheek to Jim Hamilton's prediction for last year's Six Nations preview on The Rugby Pod podcast.

“Ireland-Scotland, Grand Slam decider, last game of the tournament. I want to say Scotland, I am going to say Ireland to win a Grand Slam decider, last game. I just think because Ireland are at home and we struggle against Ireland, Ireland will just pip us by one point and it will be a controversial decision that should have never been,” said Hamilton, half-jokingly in conversation with Andy Goode, the former England and Leicester Tigers back.

In a round table chat with former rugby colleagues there is always going to be an element of partisan grandstanding. The trouble with Scotland in the past is that it has long been a pursuit that has very quickly left egg on faces. Scotland finished fourth in the table and lost heavily in Dublin in a match Finn Russell was benched for after he was one of six players to breach discipline by having drinks in an Edinburgh pub. Plus can change.

Already there has been bullish talk from one former international captain about another potential win over Ireland, the world No.1 ranked side and a team that Scotland have beaten just twice in the last 10 years, a period spanning 13 matches. There is nothing wrong with expressing confidence prior to a Six Nations but so often in the past it spills over into the kind of bombast that we hear so often in the build-up to a championship only for Scotland to go out and lose their first match – and then spend the rest of the tournament looking up at their rivals. For all the talk of progress under Gregor Townsend, Scotland's average position in the standings has been fourth, which it must be said is an improvement on where they finished under previous head coaches for most of the two decades prior to his appointment.

Tomorrow evening at Twickenham, they will face a side who have been obliging opponents in recent seasons. Two years ago, Scotland ended 38 barren years with their 11-6 Calcutta Cup triumph at English rugby headquarters. Last year at Murrayfield, there was another narrow victory despite England's travails and the recent head to head reads 3-1 in Scotland's favour. This time around promises to be different, however. The pugnacious Eddie Jones is no longer about and England will be hungry to stake their claim under their new head coach Steve Borthwick who has picked a side based on players who are in form rather than on reputation. In short, it is unlikely to be as porous an England outfit as the Scots have faced in recent campaigns.

The Herald:

That has not dampened optimism, however. A mixed autumn is now being billed as 'promising', yet Scotland lost to one of the worst Australia teams in living memory and while they were desperately unlucky while threatening a historic victory over New Zealand, they still ended up on the losing side of a 30-23 at the hands of an All Backs team that lost the summer series to an Ireland outfit that some Scots believe can be defeated at Murrayfield next month. This is Townsend's final Six Nations with him on the shortlist for a number of top jobs around Europe, and so he will be keen to go out with a bang. The fact that he won't be around for much longer means that there is little chance of another spectacular fall out with Finn Russell, the man upon whose shoulders – or rather feet – Scotland's tournament hopes rest.

The good news is that Russell revealed recently that his relationship with Townsend is as strong as it has ever been so, maybe, just maybe, optimism of a Scotland success is not misplaced.

We'll have a better idea of how those predictions are looking some time shortly after six o'clock tomorrow evening.