Watching Wales suffer such exquisite agony, their warriors coming close – but not that close, let’s be honest – to glory before ultimately falling just short … Ah, it would have taken a heart of stone not to laugh. Sorry but, having endured all manner of painful Six Nations losses to our Celtic cousins over the years, you couldn’t expect many Scotland fans to exude genuine sympathy for today’s visitors to Murrayfield. Putting the mild air of schadenfreude over continued Welsh woes to one side, though, how were Scots supposed to feel after this utterly barmy afternoon and evening of emotional extremes? Answers on a postcard to Gregor Townsend, a head coach who is already focusing on a facing a “pumped up” France in Paris next weekend – a challenge he rates as the toughest in world rugby at the moment. Finn Russell’s admission that senior players are likely to seek a meeting with Scotland’s mental skills coach early next week speaks volumes. Yes, Townsend is right to point out that his team lost a lot of “flow” as he made a series of changes from 55 minutes onwards – but the way the home side dropped off from 35-8 up must be a cause of concern beyond the Xs and Os associated with the average match review. As Russell, asked to explain the “frustrating” dip that he watched from the bench as his team were pulled back to 35-29, put it: “I think it's probably the mental side. I think we need to find that ruthless edge of just putting teams away. “Four tries to one in the first half and then we only scored one try in the second half. I'm not too sure what it is. I think that's something that when we come back on Monday, we'll look into that and see mentally where we are. “We've got a great mental skills coach here so I think as a collective we'll maybe have a chat with her - or as leaders we'll have a chat with her - and see what we can do differently, what we can do better and how we can try and fix that up. “I think we've definitely got it in us. But we just need to mentally find that groove that we're in and continue through it for 80 minutes. I think for 50 minutes we played really well and then took the foot off the gas and allowed Wales in. “It's probably even more frustrating when you're on the side watching it. But I think, yeah, it's tough to watch on. I wouldn't say the game was won at all at 50 minutes. I was cramping up actually as I came off because of that.” Townsend is in no doubt over the scale of the challenge facing his men at the Stade de France, with French club results in European rugby – and the recent performances of Les Bleus in this tournament – suggesting that things could get very ugly, very quickly. With the Six Nations title on the line, the home side are unlikely to be found lacking va-va-voom. “It will be pumped up to the max, won't it?’ said Townsend. “I think the atmospheres now at Stade de France are amazing. We saw it during the World Cup. They've nicked our idea of taking the background music when they sing the anthem, so it's now just the crowd singing it at Stade de France. “When you saw the French club teams dominating in Europe and scoring 70-80 points against quality English sides on a couple of occasions, it shows you what can happen if you allow them to get on the front foot. They scored 70 points against a very good Italian team. “They got 40 points against Wales, 40 points against Ireland. I think they could have scored 40 or 50 against England with the number of chances they had. Just now, probably this is the toughest fixture in world rugby. “They beat the All Blacks in November, so we can't wait to be involved in it. We know they'll be going for the title, but it's an opportunity for us to go out and play against one of the best teams right now.” With a nod towards the problems that beset his team from a winning position today, the head coach said: “Next week I'm not sure we'll be that far ahead in Paris … But if we are we've now had this experience to make sure we don't drop off the high standards we've set.” Having suffered a couple of miscues with the boot on his last outing for Scotland, most notably a late failed conversion that would have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to England in London, Russell admitted he almost felt more frustrated by his perfect kicking game here today. Especially as his first kick against Wales was pretty much a carbon copy of the missed chance to win the Calcutta Cup. The Scotland captain smiled as he confessed: “It was exactly the same, wasn't it? Yeah, it was nice. I was almost laughing after it because it was the exact same as the one to win it last week and I got it this week. “Yeah, I think I have my boots on the right feet today. I did quite a bit of work this week and just got myself in the groove, which was nice actually. “As a kicker, it can be quite tough when you're not kicking well and then you're trying to solve problems with every kick rather than just being in that groove and just trusting it. I was actually on, I think, Wednesday that I got myself back and then kicked well yesterday and kept it going in the game, obviously. Which is great. “But I think it's tough to have kicked well today after not kicking well in the England game, which could have changed it.” Scotland could overtake France in Paris. All they need to, according to the experts, is beat their hosts by 52 points. Townsend, handed this fact yesterday, grinned as he asked: “Is that right? We'll have that in the back of our minds …”