KEY POINTS:
In his day, Gregor Townsend was Scotland's most gifted back, capable of nifty footwork and the ability to break a defensive line.
He'd need to be at his quick-footed best to dodge a heavy dose of scorn after putting up one of the more bizarre reasons for the gulf between the north and south at this World Cup.
In his newspaper column this week, Townsend offered the curious thought that the timing of the tournament had helped the Southern Hemisphere teams and hindered their Northern Hemisphere rivals.
"Playing the tournament in the [Northern Hemisphere] autumn really is a huge advantage for the Tri-Nations and I don't understand why the World Cup doesn't alternate every four years between June and October," Townsend wrote in the Scotsman.
"When the level of competition during the [northern] summer months is Super 14 or Tri-Nations you have the ideal preparation for an intense month of test rugby."
To be fair to Townsend, who played a record 82 tests for Scotland, he did proffer other reasons which have played a part in showing the chasm between the hemispheres; athleticism, pace, superior tactical appreciation and so on.
But the timing of the cup as a key factor in England getting butchered by South Africa? Ireland being taken the distance by Georgia and Namibia? France falling far short of expectations on opening night against Argentina? Wales needing a late flurry of tries to hold off Canada and getting comfortably seen off by the Wallabies?
You'd need a handful of optimism pills to buy that one.
The likelihood is that the gulf will again be on show when the All Blacks run on to Murrayfield early on Monday. No one will expect a Scotland win.
But Scottish coach Frank Hadden is in a bind. Assuming Scotland get past Romania early today, only one thing matters; beating Italy on September 30 to ensure a quarter-final spot.
You need a win over the All Blacks or Italy, so you do what you need to do. Simple, really.
However, Hadden's assistant, George Graham, boxed clever yesterday when asked to confirm the suggestions Scotland will put out a B team against the All Blacks.
"We went down the path of picking the team we feel will do a job for us against each team," Graham said.
"It's not a matter of resting him or picking him, not a case of 'he's more important than this guy'. We believe every one of our 30 is important and will have a part to play."
Hadden's squad includes several players in contention for positions.
Take halfback. Mike Blair is the best of the bunch, but Chris Cusiter is a tidy operator and former Lion.
Hugo Southwell has been Hadden's preferred fullback, but Rory Lamont's form in the past month at No 15 has been highly impressive.
Hadden has interesting choices at lock, where veteran Scott Murray sat out the Romanian game.
There's a persuasive argument for Hadden to put out a side who - assuming the Romanians have been beaten - will ensure momentum is maintained. A 30-point loss to the All Blacks could be considered a reasonable outcome.
Rest all the best players and the risk is a 60-point duffing, or worse.
But at least Scotland will play the All Blacks before a capacity 67,500 crowd. As of yesterday the ground was a near sellout.
All Black coach Graham Henry has no worries about losing any momentum with their departure for a week from France.
"The only loss is about 15 degrees in temperature," he quipped. On that, he was being conservative.
