Scotland's coach, Frank Hadden, had some tough calls when he announced his team this week for tomorrow's meeting with Wales at Murrayfield. And if leaving Chris Paterson, the northern hemisphere's most successful kicker in the last two years, on the bench was one, the selection of Phil Godman at fly-half was perhaps more significant.
The choice of Edinburgh's Godman, once Jonny Wilkinson's understudy at Newcastle, ahead of the more conservative Glasgow stand-off, Dan Parks, represents a sea change in Hadden's thinking. Scotland, it seems, aim to play a more expansive game and for their supporters it is not before time. In four internationals at Murrayfield last year their backs failed to cross the opposition try-line.
But it is another selection this winter that, for Scotland, may have a wider significance. Gregor Townsend's elevation to backs coach has hardly been remarked upon outside Scotland but, if anyone can help discover the secret of unlocking modern international defences, it is surely the man ranked alongside John Rutherford and Craig Chalmers as the greatest of Scottish No10s.
The 35-year-old Townsend, capped 82 times by Scotland and fly-half in the last triumphant Lions team in South Africa in 1997, is considered by many to be the wayward genius of Scottish rugby, a cavalier who made rapier-like thrusts but was also prone to fall on his own sword.
Every Scotland supporter remembers his greatest moment, when he delivered a sublime back flip of a pass in the closing minutes of Scotland's game in Paris in 1995 for Gavin Hastings to steam through for the winning try beneath the posts. But what is forgotten is the sight of Townsend earlier with his head in his hands as his misdirected clearing kick fell into the arms of Philippe Saint-André, who looked to have scored the winning try for the French.
There will always be a touch of the happy Corinthian about Townsend, who said this week that he gave up his playing career 18 months ago when "it ceased to become a joy and was just a job". But there was more to him than that. Townsend was not only much travelled, with spells in England, France, South Africa and Australia, he was a deep thinker about rugby who always looked for the perfect game. As a young player with Warringah in Australia he also learned to play a flat game close to the gain line with his centres no more than a yard or two apart.
Having begun in rugby as a five-year-old in Gala where his father Peter played alongside the great John Frame, he also has strong opinions about the break-up of the Borders side and about his own treatment at the hands of the former coach Matt Williams, whom he has never forgiven for dumping him after the 2003 World Cup. Those views were eloquently expressed in a book Townsend published last autumn and which has helped occupy his time since retirement.
"I don't know if you would call the book cathartic exactly but there were a lot of things I wanted to record and I enjoyed it. I've done some media work since retiring and have begun to work for a charity, the Winning Scotland Foundation, which helps in the coaching of young athletes and giving young people role models. We can be a bit pessimistic about sport in this country and I want to change that. Edinburgh then asked me to help Andy Robinson and coach there and I've worked alongside Phil Godman and helped mentor him. Would I have predicted coming back into the fold after Matt Williams dropped me? I don't think I would have predicted it two months ago.
"It will be a huge challenge for us on Sunday. Rugby has changed since I was an international but there is still a place for flair, for a side-step or a double move. Scotland have been playing expansive rugby. Against South Africa we moved the ball from beneath our own posts. I don't think even I would have done that. I still love rugby and play a bit. But on Sunday I won't feel like stripping off the tracksuit and running on the pitch. I'll have a clear focus as I sit in the stand and the emotion I had as a player will be removed."
