A few snowflakes fluttered over Edinburgh.
History of freezing the atmosphere, of setting this scene of haunted castles which, at nightfall, lets hover the ghosts that we want to see there.
Then a heavy rain took over.
It tumbled in cold showers and dispersed like a glowing signal all around Murrayfield Stadium.
No escape possible in front of this frozen mirror.
No evasions either.
This is where the Blues will find out.
This is where they will get their ideas straight or be shattered.
Raise your head or lose your mind for good.
Scotland is a perfect barometer for this.
The ideal stallion.
An opponent neither too strong nor too weak.
This Saturday, February 10 (3:15 p.m.), in a wind coming from the highlands, Fabien Galthié's men will find out where they stand and learn a lot about themselves.
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Because for the moment, apart from wrapping up ready-made words in a reality that they do not seem to understand, the Tricolores have above all revealed the beginnings of a depression.
They were painful to see eight days ago in Marseille, lost at the bottom of a fiery Orange Vélodrome which was unable to bring them to boiling point.
Scattered by the willing and clean Irish (17-38), they entered the Tournament as they had left the World Cup, heads down and knees on the ground.
The elimination by South Africa on October 15 in the quarter-finals of this World Cup, which they saw themselves winning, stuck in their throats.
When will they finally turn the page?
They are not helped, it is true, by a coach who refuses to admit his errors, his strategic or tactical defeats and takes refuge in a speech which no longer finds many echoes.
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