Another year goes for the drain.
After blowing Victoria's possibilities on Twickenham, the Six Nations Championship of Scotland has ended effectively before we have even left February. Again.
In recent years, the final round of the six nations has often been linked to the Cheltenham Festival and has run parallel to the best Turf show.
But Scotland has never approached the house without leaving in dispute. Not even close. As always with Gregor Towsend in the chair, they have jumped badly and have fallen on too many fences.
His career is running. Like one of those loose horses wandering without direction, Scotland is on a road to anywhere.
But the rider has not been insufficient. In the case of Towsend, he still clings to loved life in the hope of saving some personal pride.
Chief coach Gregor Towsend Consols Jamie Ritchie at the end of Scotland's defeat for England
Finn Russell was disconsolate after his lost conversion was expensive for Scotland on Twickenham
Duhan Van der Merwe writes the third attempt of Scotland in a match of the six nations they should have won
That is all that Scotland has been left now. With two games to come, against Wales and France, this year's championship is about trying to save his face.
It seems certain that it is another year of mediocrity of the middle table. Given how dominant they were in the first half on Twickenham on Saturday, it really shouldn't have been so.
Scotland played all the rugby, surpassing England for three attempts to one. They played with a sense of ambition against a local team that frankly had terras in attack.
Duhan Van Der Merwe destroyed England once again, tormenting Marcus Smith and mocked the attempts of England of support of facing him.
Van der Merwe later would be appointed party man. That was the wrong call, since the prize should really have been awarded to Jamie Ritchie.
Ritchie played as a possessed man. It was absolutely colossal in the back row of Scotland and did not deserve to be on the loser side.
Scotland had scored twice within the first 20 minutes through Ben White and Huw Jones. The only criticism was that they could not take more than a three -point advantage over the tunnel halfway.
A score of 10-7 at the break did not reflect the general game balance. England was abysmal, kicking the ball leather in a performance that blew his eyes.
However, crucially, Scotland never kill them completely. Finn Russell lost six points of the TEE with three lost conversions.
The collective failure, however, was larger than Russell's right boot of Ropey. In the second half, Scotland lost its course and lost many of the great collisions against a belligerent English defense.
Towsend's side fought to get any avant -garde. They had not scored a point in the second half before the attempt of Van der Merwe just in death, just for Russell to squeeze the conversion.
The possibility of claiming a fifth successive historical victory over Auld's enemy increased with smoke. And this chopped. Really chopped.
Okay, the French referee did not make Scotland any favor. The only attempt that England scored, arriving in the first half through Tommy Freeman, seemed a bit doubtful to say the least. There was nothing conclusive in TV repetitions to suggest that the ball had been legally founded. It seemed sustained. However, an attempt was granted.
There were also a couple of contentious penalty calls of Pierre Brousset.
Then, Towsend did everything possible to maintain a diplomatic tone, but I wasn't happy.
However, like Russell's lost conversions, there were more in this than only a few calls from the official. Scotland just needs to look at themselves. This defeat was self -inflicted.
It is not as if England re -roared them in the second half and started playing a rugby. Clearly, they did not. For the second time in succession, Steve Borthwick's team won a game that they should really have lost. If it was a narrow escape against France, this almost felt an act of greater theft.
To be fair with Borthwick, winning tight and heartbreaking games is not a bad habit. The six nations really do not offer any point or prize for artistic merit.
Scotland will now go to another week from fallow choosing the bones of this and trying to evaluate how the impulse changed both first half to second.
Did they get enough from the bank? At all. With the exception of Stafford McDowall and Gregor Brown, the contributions there were not strong enough.
Even some boys in the initial XV really did not do enough. Jonny Gray and Grant Gilchrist simply went through the game, without offering a real threat or transport threat.
Pierre Schoeman and Zander Fagerson, the accessories of Scotland, were slightly out of it. The Scots were never monstruated in advance the path that some had predicted, but they didn't really hurt England.
Russell had one of its poorest games in the Calcutta Cup. Half of the Scotland fly is having a very general average championship.
Will you keep your place in the team for the game against Wales in a fortnight? Yes, of course he will. Whether or not it is a different question.
Listen, Russell has been outstanding for Scotland for many years. With magic in his hands, he took them many great days against England.
His performance on Saturday reflected a player who simply does not have a very good championship. Hard? Maybe. But also true.
After being mistreated from one pillar to another in the first two rounds of the championship, to the extent that Warren Gatland departed, Wales seemed much improved against Ireland on Saturday. Although they still lost the game, there was enough in their performance to suggest that a Scottish victory will not be a formality in Murrayfield.
If the unthinkable happened and Scotland lost, they would be looking at the canyon of a championship of a victory before the final game in Paris.
If Towsend will see the last year of his contract, the game of Wales is, in some aspects, the largest game of his mandate in Scotland.
He loses and surely he will have gone. He wins and he could simply save his face. Even the possibility of another two -victory championship feels hollow and worthless at this time.
Upon arriving at the six nations of this year, Scotland had eyes in larger awards. Consciousness or incorrectly, they liked them as challengers.
It seems that they are now reaching a final point under Towsend. The margins between success and failure are often fine.
The margins between a team that constantly fall into the mediocrity of the table and one that can really challenge? They are much bigger, and Scotland does not look closer to closing that gap.