Scotland: Is there ‘merit’ or has Townsend misjudged the criticism?

“I’m kind of tired of sitting here and promising what we’re going to do,” Tuipulotu said. “I think the big focus is on getting to the top of the level in those six countries.

“I’m not going to give you guys headlines about how we promise this and promise that, just for you to make a headline and turn your back on us.

“We have to regroup and we are the guys in the locker room who have to get over the hump eventually. That’s the only thing that matters to me is what is said in the locker room and not what is said on stage.”

Tuipulotu is one of the game’s great communicators, a humble and unfailingly polite man, and for him to come out with the intensity he showed was not a side we’ve seen from him before.

But perhaps that is what the Scottish side needs: a siege mentality. Perhaps the ‘us against the world’ slogan is the thing that can push the team towards heights they have been unable to reach so far.

Perhaps this is just wishful thinking, but what is clear is that Scotland will go into the Six Nations with the kind of expectations they have had to carry in recent seasons.

While Center Townsend still takes up a lot of columns and airtime, the man himself is certain in his belief that he can lead this team to the kind of success that fans crave.

“I’ve never been more convinced,” he said. “The New Zealand game was one of the best performances we have seen.

“20 minutes against Argentina does not change what the team did the week before. Of course we want it to be perfect – we have to be better when the opponent is in their own moments.

“The game the players are putting forward is one that can take us to success, whether it’s the Six Nations or beyond.”