All eyes will be on Greig Laidlaw at fly-half © Getty Images

Ahh, how quickly a Six Nations can go downhill if you are a Scotland fan. One week you are wondering (again) if this is the year, the next you are hoping beyond hope that the Welsh - who have not lost to Scotland in Cardiff since 2002 - suddenly forget they were one spear tackle away from a World Cup final and start playing the sort of rubbish required to allow us into the game.

Scotland are of course capable of providing the necessary intensity to force Wales into mistakes, but as usual it is our own mistakes that have haunted us this week. Following the butchery of a cut and dry 2 on 1 against England, Ross Rennie would probably like some pointers on how to draw the man and pass, but it's largely a forgotten art even for ball-players like the Welsh and Irish, never mind the Scottish midfield. Everyone loves a miss pass, or in our case a missed pass.

Now the stand-off issue has to a degree been settled with the unfortunately-timed retiral of Dan Parks - allowing us to debate which of the young talents to play, rather than worrying that we have no young talent in that position - attention (and probably the ire of the internet ranters) will turn to the 12 and 13 shirts. Sean Lamont and Nick De Luca are, like Parks, hugely committed to Scotland but also receive their share of stick. Lamont for not passing enough (well, he is a winger) and De Luca for not being as brilliant for Scotland as he frequently is for Edinburgh. The reason Dutchman (and soon to qualify for Scotland) Tim Visser has scored more tries this season himself than the entire Scotland team in the last two Six Nations is largely down to the creative play of De Luca inside him, and the play of inside centres Matt Scott and James King, whose presence means that every second ball doesn't always disappear into contact.

A lot of it is also down to Greig Laidlaw who reads a game brilliantly from 9 or 10. If the option is on, Edinburgh take it; this is the sort of heads up rugby that Laidlaw will bring. Our main problem this week is that would have been ideal to take England apart (it so nearly did) but Wales will have much less of a problem dealing with it.

With a well-drilled defence they love a counter-attack, they have pacy and skillful backs and no lack of brute strength. Having persisted with bulky wings for years, we ditch ours (or turn them into centres) to go with pace and skill; only to find that the blasted Welsh have found some way to combine the two...

There is a little hope, though. With Warburton injured and Davies banned for an off the ball spear-tackle (another one), Scotland will look to get the edge in the set piece, certainly in the lineout. With a platform who knows what Scotland could be capable of, but the problem is the Wales backline is likely to need little more than parity up front in order to exert an influence on the scoreboard.

Still we, are exactly where we like to be: massive underdogs.

Rory Baldwin - @ScotRugbyBlog