‘History is at hand if Scotland can reach out and grab it’

And so the chance has arrived at last, decades in the waiting, decades largely made up of frustration, false dawns and fatalism.

Isolated wins but no consistency. The galling sight of Ireland and Wales winning championships and Grand Slams, partying hard as Scotland stared in the window. Locked out and unloved.

A string of coaches – Matt Williams and Frank Hadden, Andy Robinson, Scott Johnson and Vern Cotter – counted in and counted out again.

Cotter took Scotland forward but it is Gregor Townsend, in his ninth Six Nations, who has finally led them to their most significant championship game since the boys of 1999 won the title.

Silverware is on the line in the shape of a Triple Crown. Maybe a championship, too, but that’s more complicated, more distant when France are still the hot favourites to clinch it despite what Scotland did to them last weekend.

In the modern game, the Triple Crown doesn’t mean as much as it used to, not to the nations who are used to winning it, that is. To Scotland, it would be rugby paradise, the promised land they’ve been desperate to reach.

Saturday in Dublin is about so many things – an end to 11 defeats in a row against Ireland, a fourth win in the championship for the first time, a second-place finish also for the first time, a first Triple Crown since 1990 and what would only be a third since 1938. Ireland have won eight in the Six Nations era alone.

Given everything that has happened – the tries, the wins, the new-found hope, the imminent tilt at history – Rome seems like an age ago.

From there to here has been a wild ride. In Rome – a weak mentality, a dominated scrum, a broken lineout, a defeated demeanour, an endgame of 29 forlorn phases in the rain. Townsend Out!

Then, England – 17-0 after 14 minutes. Finn Russell’s genius, Huw Jones’ opportunism, Matt Fagerson’s charge down, Kyle Steyn’s relentless class. A bonus-point win and momentum.

In Wales – a bigger test in a maelstrom and a test passed. In years gone by, Scotland would not have come back from 20-5 down in a game of that intensity. This was new – and interesting.

Now, France. The poster boys of European if not world rugby.

Before the deluge of Scottish tries there was another examination of Scotland’s resolve. France led 14-7 and were beginning to go through the gears.

Scotland ran them off the road. Forty unanswered points was a jaw-dropping illustration of how viciously brilliant they can be, which has never been in question, but also their power and their ability to keep going for the jugular even when the game was all but won.

The rugby Gods know what they’re doing. Scotland’s last barrier to glory is in the home of the team that has caused them the most pain. It’s almost like a movie script – Scotland trying to defeat their great nemesis. Rocky in rugby boots.

There are a million things that Scotland must get right, but it can all be narrowed down to physicality. Ireland have had too much of it in the past and Scotland have had too little.

You can make rugby as complex as you like but one simple truth remains and Sione Tuipulotu, Scotland’s deeply impressive captain, delivered it on Friday.

“I think that’s the game, to be honest,” he said of the need to win the physical confrontations.

“In Test rugby you go through all these things of game planning and all the intricacies around the lineout, scrum or even kick strategy, but I feel like Test rugby is pretty simple, you win the collisions, you win the game.

“The collisions are the breakdown, the collisions are the target, the collisions are the defence. If you can win those three – I haven’t seen many people lose when they win those three.

“The breakdown is going to be a big part of it. Definitely [Ireland] have picked some guys that are pretty notorious as breakdown pests. That’s the part of the game that we need to control in order to get our game out there. That’s no secret.”

Scotland have been reluctant to show emotion in their public utterances this week. Townsend was particularly deadpan on Thursday and no wonder. Keeping a lid on that stuff is sensible. Going overboard on the momentous nature of this contest is not a smart play.

Tuipulotu went close, though. There is such power in so much of what he says and that was the case again on Friday at Aviva Stadium when he was asked about his father Fohe, who was in the Murrayfield crowd last weekend to watch his son captaining Scotland for the first time.

“My dad doesn’t speak much,” he said. “He’s been coming to all my rugby games since I was a kid but he doesn’t have much to say after any game.

“He has probably a bit more to say if we lose or if I’ve played badly than if we win. Usually if we win there’s not much said, so it was probably a good thing that there wasn’t much said after last week and hopefully he doesn’t say anything after Saturday either.”

Fohe will be immensely proud of his son, but if he’s not one of life’s orators (his boy is definitely one of those) then how does he articulate his feelings?

“Like I said, it’s hard to gauge. Tongan dads are all pretty similar, they don’t show their emotion much. It’s hard to gauge his mood around things, but I know he wants this one just as much as I do and he’ll be there to support.

“[His pride] is probably something that I’m still figuring out. But that’s my dad and I’ve just grown up like that, I suppose.

“Playing rugby, since I’ve been a kid, has always been a little bit like chasing that approval from my dad. That hasn’t changed for me my whole career so I’m happy he’s in the crowd because I get to chase it again.”

In his tactical assessment and his mood-setting, Tuipulotu was razor sharp.

If Scotland have another 22 on his wavelength then something special might unfold at the Aviva. History is at hand if they can reach out and grab it.

They have done so much to get this far, but the toughest bit is yet to come.