Scotland must win against their Pool B opponents for a host of different reasons.
Just one round of matches gone and already the bungling blazerati of World Rugby are looking like complete and utter prats.
This will be the tenth edition of the Cup and for the first time, the finals will be entirely hosted by France.
Tomorrow in Monaco the draw will take place for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, the second most important tournament in football after the World Cup itself.
At this World Cup in France, now just over a fortnight away, there will be no Scottish referees.
Back in the day when I first started playing rugby, before the internet was invented and television slow motion replays in sport were in their infancy, my first club coach used to repeat this mantra: “the referee is always right, especially when he’s wrong.”
Scotland defeated Italy at the weekend with an experimental squad at Murrayfield.
I have consistently tipped host nation France to lift the William Webb Ellis Trophy and I saw nothing to change my mind.
With the exemptions of Boris Johnson and the ghost of Maggie Thatcher, I cannot think of a more divisive figure to be one of the SRU’s figureheads.
Rugby's new world order is coming... so Scotland better be ready
