As someone who supports Rangers and Liverpool, this was an afternoon that couldn’t have gone much worse for Gregor Townsend.
Not that the Scotland head coach would have had much time to lament his football teams’ cup exits as he picked over the bones of another defeat to Ireland.
If those cup losses to lower-league opposition registered as huge shocks, there was something lamentably predictable about Scotland once more coming out second best to their bitter rivals.
Townsend’s contract is set to expire next April and there is every chance he will move on — should he last that long — without having ever chalked up a victory over Ireland as head coach.
That is a glaring hole on anyone’s CV and, as he admitted himself in the build-up, it is something that will eat away at him should he move on from Murrayfield without achieving it.
Every team in every sport has a bogey team that they just can’t seem to beat no matter the circumstances or personnel — and Scotland’s is undoubtedly Ireland.
Ben White’s lack of celebration after scoring his late try summed up Scotland’s general mood
Jack Conan’s try removed any lingering doubt about the outcome of the match at Murrayfield
Gregor Townsend remains winless against Ireland during his time in charge of Scotland
The reasons for that are multi-fold — fixing the Scottish player pathway is the long-term issue — but it is hard to shake the feeling that, on the most basic, visceral level, the Irish just simply seem to want it more.
That certainly looked the case here as Simon Easterby’s side started with tempo and intensity and never let up for 80 minutes.
Following France’s loss to England on Saturday night, the way looks clear for Ireland to chalk up an unprecedented third Six Nations title triumph on the spin.
Few could argue that they don’t deserve it.
In players like Jamison Gibson-Park, Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris, they have some of the world’s leading lights.
Young Sam Prendergast’s near-perfect display at fly-half showed the future is bright for Ireland, too.
What Ireland also do so well, though, is match that talent with commitment and passion as they thunder into tackles, challenge for every high ball and never give up on a lost cause.
Andrew Porter was the perfect embodiment of that here, throwing his body in front of a Ben White clearing kick and almost creating a try out of nothing as a result.
Scotland, in turn, seemed subdued and lifeless. In many ways, they looked like a team that was beaten before they even came out of the tunnel.
Barring a brief spell at the start of the second half when they reduced the deficit to six points, they didn’t play like a side that really believed they had what it took to defeat Ireland at the 11th time of asking.
The loss of Russell following a head knock was a blow from which Scotland could not recover
The rather subdued Murrayfield crowd — the home element of it anyway — didn’t give the impression they felt they were on the cusp of watching history being made either.
Few seemed surprised to see the prospect of a first Scotland Grand Slam for 35 years disappear into thin air and, with it, probably any hope of a maiden Six Nations title success, too.
There will be ‘learnings’ taken from the defeat. Townsend said as much after the game.
There will be talk about cutting out individual errors, ‘easy fixes’ and ‘trusting in the process’ over the next fortnight before Scotland head to Twickenham to try to stop an England side buoyed by that win over France.
There has to come a time, however, when players stop learning and instead simply start doing.
Scotland have had plenty of opportunities to beat Ireland over the past eight years and still haven’t found a way to make it happen. Maybe it just isn’t meant to be.
