THEY were not among the favourites in the run-up to the competition but as of now, the boys from Scotland are the only ones who can prevent England from taking the Triple Crown and Grand Slam titles.
Success for the Scots would also translate into a horrible sense of despair for England fans within the context of other rugby equations.
If the Scots fail then it will be left to Ireland to halt the English in the final weekend in Dublin on March 18 but since the Irish lost in the opening round on February 4 in Edinburgh, their purpose would be confined to preventing an England Grand Slam and a world record straight wins of 19 games by a tier one country.
But first the Scots must get the better of Wales this Saturday afternoon in Edinburgh without their captain, scrumhalf and first choice goalkicker Greig Laidlaw who’s out injured for the rest of the season.
The Welsh must have kicked themselves in the butts for gifting the game to England two weeks ago by making two big mistakes with less than five minutes left to play but welcome back winger George North from injury.
Wales of course would want to get back on track and travel to Edinburgh well aware that the records in the 6 Nations favour them.
In the last 17 meetings Scotland won only three, the last in Edinburgh in 2007. There was a draw in 2001.
However the Scots would take heart that although they lost the last two, the scores was close – 26-23 in 2015 and 27-23 last year.
Those who follow the competition closely will agree that the Scots have been playing better this compared to their previous sides.
Should the Scots falter, then the next match between Ireland and France will be crucial to the home team’s own position and also that of defending champion England.
Unlike the favourable statistics for Wales against Scotland, the French have got it better against the Irish, with the former winning 11 of 17 competition matches since 2000.
There was a period from 2004 when France won five in a row but the last three meetings have been markedly different.
In 2014 and 2015 Ireland won their matches and last year went down 10-9 in Paris.
Irish records since the 2015 World Cup have been good but France has also shown resurgence under coach Guy Noves and would like nothing better than a second consecutive win this year after their home win against the Scots two weeks ago.
England hosts Italy on Sunday, with their margin of victory probably the only point of interest to everyone.
If Scotland gets one over the Welsh and Ireland too succeeds against the French, the next round on March 3 would be a real cracker, with Scotland travelling to Twickenham to meet England and Wales hosting Ireland in Cardiff.
We are also into the Super Rugby season now and in the first three matches Thursday and Friday, two of the home teams didn’t have a good day.
In the opening match in Melbourne, the Blues ran away with a 56-18 trouncing of the Rebels, scoring seven tries against two, with centre Rieko Ioane securing a hattrick. That was the highest score by the Blues on Australian soil since the competition began in 1996.
On Friday the Chiefs upset fellow New Zealand franchise the Highlanders to continue their excellent opening round record, all played away, and tasting their first win in six matches against the Highlanders in Dunedin.
Incidentally the Highlanders had until this match won 10 of their last 11 matches at the same venue.
Australia’s the Reds trailed for long periods against the Sharks from South Africa and only had the momentum with them in the last 10 minutes to eventually win 28-26.