Greig Laidlaw expects an emotionally-charged night in Paris on Saturday but believes the belief in the squad and in their nation can propel Scotland to an unlikely triumph.
The Scotland skipper knows that the hosts want to make the first major sporting occasion in their capital since the Charlie Hebdo atrocity on January 7 a true expression of French national unity, and La Marsellaise is likely to be sung with even more fervour than usual by the 80,000 crowd at the Stade de France.
But Scotland’s own self-confidence is formidable, and the squad know that the public share their optimism about the team’s progress under Vern Cotter.
“I think it will be emotionally charged on Saturday with the things that have been happening in Paris,” he said. “The French have been talking about uniting the nation, singing the national anthem and things like that, but we can’t get caught up on those things.
“The start of the game is going to be very important, they’ll be coming out flying. If we can get out there, settle the nerves quickly, that will see us through the 80 minutes.”
Scotland meanwhile feel that their public are getting behind them, with ticket sales at record levels for the three home games at Murrayfield in this season’s Six Nations.
“I think we’re down to 1000 tickets for the Wales game, the Ireland game sold out in record time, and we’re already at a record crowd for the Italy game,” he said. “As players, that tells us the people out there are excited to come and see us play.
“That in turn builds confidence in the squad. We love playing at home and although we’re not looking past the French game yet, it will be all guns blazing when we come back here to play Wales the following week.”
Games against France have come down to small margins both of the last two years, last year’s hinging on Yoann Huget’s length-of-the-field interception when Scotland seemed set to score the decisive try.
“That interception was the small margin, and a couple of years ago in the Stade de France we came within six or seven points,” he pointed out.
“We’ve been training with real attention to detail. We need to take that into the game, play what we see and look after the ball. If we can do that we will put the French under pressure and test their fitness.”
The championship as a whole is the proper measuring stick for the Scots under Cotter, agrees Laidlaw.
“The autumn was great, but yhis is the ultimate test, the jewel in the crown in the northern hemisphere for putting in big performances,” he said. “Wales have shown that with a couple of Grand Slams, Ireland with the championship last year.
“We compete with them at PRO12 level and now we have to bridge that gap. The players can do it as we see with Glasgow and Edinburgh recently and it is up to us now when we go out as Scotland to replicate that.”
Laidlaw feels he’s as refreshed as he was going into the autumn and is impressed with the young talent in the Scotland squad, although he knows most of them from his days with Edinburgh.
“You only need to look at the performances to see these boys are coming on leaps and bounds,” he said. “Now it is up to them to push on and make the next step and put their stamp on their Scotland careers.
“Competition keeps everyone on their toes and that’s a good thing for the team. Fair play to Sam (Hidalgo-Clyne), he has come in and done a good job and Vern is obviously keen to involve him and try to bring him through.
“He is a good young player, and can also kick goals, so fair play to him for stepping up.
“Competition is only good for me and for the squad in general. The Scotland 9 jersey has always been a massive competition and that’s never going to change. Sam and Henry (Pyrgos) are challenging and I know that Chris (Cusiter) will be back because he’s a top, top player.”