Both Gregor Townsend and Matt Sherratt have shown faith in the XVs who performed well in their most recent defeats

Neither of these two are where they want to be after three rounds. In the case of Wales, rock bottom of the table cannot be worse than where they feared they might be; in the case of Scotland, fourth must be so much worse than they had hoped. And some might say deserve.

Eyebrows may rise, then, at the news that both coaches will more or less send out the same teams that featured in their respective defeats in round three. But Six Nations tend to have narratives more nuanced than those supplied by the table at any given moment.