The Scottish rugby fans in uproar over their minority representation on the 2017 Lions tour are spectacularly missing the point and it’s getting embarrassing.
As cries of ‘Come on the All Blacks’ and ‘Greig Laidlaw should be starting’ come from north of the English border, the rest of us look on with a degree of incredulity.
Do these fans really want the Lions to lose? The answer, unbelievably, appears to be yes.
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised because this kind of reaction has been coming for months from certain members of the Scottish rugby public.
I recall sitting in Edinburgh airport waiting for my flight back to Cardiff after Scotland had just embarrassed Wales at Murrayfield.
"That is going to cause Warren Gatland a real problem," started a conversation with my colleague.
Vern Cotter’s boys were plodding along nicely, having stunned Ireland on the opening weekend and given France a real game during a bruising encounter in Paris.
Flanker Hamish Watson spearheaded the beating they gave Wales on the third weekend but most rugby folk knew what was coming before Gatland named his Lions squad.
On that day at Murrayfield, Wales - a team of generally superb individuals playing poorly - were beaten by a team who were greater than the sum of their parts.
There was Gatland’s problem.
We all knew Wales would have a greater representation when the Kiwi announced his touring party but he was going to face some questions about the small Scottish contingent and many weren’t going to like the answers.
Inevitably, it came to pass that Gatland named just two Scots in his initial squad to tour New Zealand - with scrum-half Laidlaw called up to replace Ben Youngs shortly after - and then came the outcry from up north.
With judgement clouded by Scotland’s fourth place finish in the Six Nations - one above Wales - a smattering of disgruntled rugby observers vented their anger, perhaps forgetting the fact they were slapped all over west London by England to the tune of 61-21.
But, with time, the complaints thankfully subsided. Until this week, that is, when a legion of apathetic Scots seemingly cheering on the All Blacks ahead of Saturday’s deciding Test match took to social media.
Here are a few examples...
Their main gripe? No Scottish player would be involved in the Test series after Gatland named an unchanged 23 for the Eden Park showdown.
To some extent, you can understand those who feel they have no emotional attachment to the men in red, given Scotland have routinely had little representation on past tours.
But those bleating about an anti-Scottish bias are wide of the mark. And those claiming Laidlaw deserves a spot in the Test team are borderline trolling given his form. Arguably, he's not even the best scrum-half in his own country and could consider himself lucky to even be a Lion.
Tommy Seymour came good later in the tour, but Gatland has clearly looked for continuity in the back three, having selected Liam Williams, Anthony Watson and Elliot Daly for all three Test matches.
At the expense, let’s not forget, of Welshmen George North - who went on to pick up an injury after the first Test - and Leigh Halfpenny - Man of the Series four years ago.
The one genuine shot Scotland had at representation in the Test team was Stuart Hogg, who went into the tour in most people’s minds as the front runner to start at full-back.
But his trip unfortunately ended prematurely after an accidental collision with team-mate Conor Murray resulting in a facial bone fracture.
Lock Jonny Gray and Watson may count themselves unlucky to have missed out in the main but second row and back row are the most hotly-contested positions in the squad. Just ask Joe Launchbury.
Huw Jones was catching the eye but his season was cruelly ended by a hamstring injury against Italy and Finn Russell might have had a case with Dan Biggar perhaps slightly fortunate to be named, given his end of season form. Nobody, though, can now say the Osprey hasn’t proved his worth during the tour - he’s been very impressive.
All that said, we’re not talking about Test contenders here.
Those claiming Gatland is damaging the tradition by ‘ignoring’ one nation should remember the criticism he received for calling up the ‘Geography Six’ - including Scots Russell and Allan Dell - earlier in the tour.
He was accused of devaluing the jersey, which is exactly what he would have done had he named five or six token Scottish players in the squad just to keep everyone happy. You simply can’t do it.
In the Six Nations, Scotland were well-coached, organised, gritty, difficult to break down and had Hogg. When you view most of the players in isolation, you’re not left with much to shout about.
It’s why newspapers rarely have them coming out on top in the pre-match head-to-heads. Individually they’re nothing special but, together, they’re developing something potentially brilliant.
With Gregor Townsend now at the coaching helm, they could really be onto something. Their victory over Australia showed early signs of promise, but then a loss to Fiji provided a sharp reminder that there’s work to be done.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Scotland challenge for the Six Nations title under Townsend in the next four years.
And if that happens, their representation in the 2021 Lions squad will be greater because they’ll be there on merit.
