• Scotland 31-19 Italy
• Townsend’s side run in five tries to secure bonus point

This is a test passed. Not the sternest test, it is true, certainly if ambitions of a first title of the Six Nations era are to be entertained seriously, but how easy to imagine previous iterations of 21st-century Scotland teams failing something similar.

Five beautifully constructed tries against one interception try tells its own story. Scotland played by far the better rugby, but they know better than anyone that playing the better rugby does not on its own a victory make. That this was as close as it was owed to Italian obstinacy – this is a team that will not go away – and the boot of Tommaso Allan, followed by the absolutely classic wobble of a fancied team of still-not-unshakeable composure in the third quarter, when 10 quickfire points at the start of the second half brought the Azzurri level at 19-19, having played the square root of no rugby. Having not been allowed to.