Vern Cotter's men must prove their impressive exploits at the World Cup were no one-off while rivals are still finding their feet under Eddie Jones
Having been so impressed with what he has since seen from his new charges in training, Eddie Jones has now officially retracted his assertion that Scotland would start their Six Nations opener against England as favourites on Saturday.
His comment had, after all, already achieved its intended objective in riling his opposite number Vern Cotter.
Yet Jones’ tongue-in-cheek suggestion was never as ridiculous as many, including Cotter, tried to make out.
Three months on from his appointment, the Australian admits that the “honeymoon period” in his new role is now over.
But as much as his straight-talking style and sense of humour are exactly what England need following a disastrous World Cup, the truth is that he is actually still very much in first-date territory.
The former world champions have consistently failed to live up to their potential under a succession of submissive coaches since Clive Woodward’s departure in 2004.
Whether the revolutionary Jones’ relationship with the conservative RFU who appointed all of those predecessors turns out to be the perfect match remains to be seen.
Scotland, on the other hand, appear to have found the one.
Having come within a matter of seconds of a World Cup semi-final in the autumn – closer than any of the other Home Nations – they currently find themselves in a rare position of ascendancy over their nearest rivals.
Their starting team will feature 14 of the same faces who were so cruelly beaten by Australia at the end of a superb campaign that also saw them thrash Jones’ Japan side 45-10.
All but four of England’s matchday 23 on Saturday, on the other hand, were part of the squad that became the first ever host nation to not progress beyond the pool stages.
For all Stuart Lancaster’s weaknesses, that failure ran much deeper than mismanagement alone.
Whereas England’s rehabilitation is only just beginning, Scotland’s is already well under way.
It is certainly a recovery that is long overdue.
Scotland’s last championship victory came back in 1999 – the tournament’s last year under the old guise of the Five Nations.
Following the inclusion of Italy, they have finished bottom of the table on four separate occasions – with two of those wooden spoons coming in the last four years.
They have been so woeful at times that there has even been talk of the threat of expulsion.
The Tartan Army have seen false dawns before, most notably when Scotland achieved their highest-ever finish of third in 2006 to prompt claims that the sleeping giant had finally woken.
Since then, they have won just eight of 45 Six Nations game – at an average of less than one per tournament – and have won on the competition’s opening weekend just once in 15 attempts.
In eight games at Murrayfield against England, they have scored only two tries, and none since 2004.
With trips to both Croke Park and the Millenium Stadium to come, as well as welcoming France to Murrayfield, defeat to England this weekend would inevitably feel like the first chapter of the same old story.
Beat the auld enemy while they are still finding their feet at the start of a new era, however, and they can finally begin to dream of a happy ending.
Make no mistake, Scotland need victory on Saturday far more than England do.
And given the gulf between the two sides the last time they each took to the field, for the first time in a long time they have much more than blind optimism to make them believe they are capable of doing so.
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