Tongues may have been firmly in cheeks as an array of journalists from elsewhere congratulated the Scottish contingent on their team being the last representatives of European and Northern Hemisphere rugby left in the World Cup, but it was nice to be on the right side of the joke, even if only for a short while.

Indeed it looked at various stages across the afternoon as if the last laugh was going to last for at least another week.

For all Scotland’s heroics, however, it has been a chastening weekend for European rugby as a whole with Southern Hemisphere superiority demonstrated as never before, not least in Argentina’s comprehensive defeat of Six Nations champions Ireland.

Time, perhaps, to look again at the work-load and scheduling for European players. Not that any English or French clubs will be interested in that.