Even players at the very top level think they’ve got it won at half-time and start thinking about the beers after the game.
That was my chief thought after the England against Scotland clash on Saturday.
It takes a lot for a dead rubber match to upstage Wales comprehensively beating Ireland to secure the grand slam, but I think England and Scotland managed it.
Like most arrogant English people (probably), I was fantasizing about winning the World Cup at the halfway point of the Twickenham encounter.
The home side were thoroughly dominant in the opening 40, and could have added a couple more tries to those that they scored.
But, after a breakaway try in the first half, the Scots emerged as a renewed force after the break, and came desperately close to one of the most famous comebacks in rugby history.
Ultimately it wasn’t to be thanks to a late England try, but if ever there was a moral victory for the Scots, this was it.
That second half has the effect of leaving England’s World Cup preparations in disarray.
How do you form any kind of grounding on which to base an assault on the ultimate prize with a Jekyll and Hyde performance reminiscent of the current Gloucester side?
While England will go into the tournament viewed as a dangerous side no-one wants to face, you have to doubt their ability to go the distance.
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Scotland, meanwhile, wrestled the stand-out performance they needed from what was otherwise a lean Six Nations.
In the last couple of years, the Scots have looked on the verge of emerging from more than a decade of mediocrity.
They remain on that verge, mainly because they have been limited to one or two stand-out performances, without consistency.
Ahead of the England fixture, this looked like a Six Nations in which the Scots had regressed, but that second half arguably flipped the whole tournament on its head from their point of view.
The challenge now is to build on it.
Wales the major threat for Rugby World Cup
Of all the northern hemisphere teams, Wales now have to be considered the major threat for the World Cup.
Ahead of the Six Nations, you would have put the Welsh as the third best team in the competition behind Ireland and England.
But Alun Wyn Jones and his team emphatically ripped up that script, saving arguably their most impressive performance for last by crushing the Irish in Cardiff.
Warren Gatland and his coaching team now need to ensure that the Welsh performance against the Irish wasn’t the peak, but the start of a history-making year.
If you think your Welsh friends are insufferable after winning a grand slam, imagine what they would be like after lifting the World Cup?
I had enough trouble writing that sentence, let alone thinking about it coming true.
But the fact is no-one believes the Welsh can go to Japan and win the World Cup. Gatland and Wyn Jones face the challenge of instilling that belief in this squad.
Winning the Six Nations grand slam is the perfect place to start.
Wales need to make sure they see this victory as the stepping stone to greater things, instead of the pinnacle of what this squad can achieve.
Wasps coming to Kingsholm
Wasps will be coming to Kingsholm with a point to prove after Gloucester beat them in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
As the time, the Coventry side were looking like challengers for the top four, but they have since slipped off the pace and now sit eighth in the table.
That’s not to say bridging the gap to the top four is impossible for Dai Young’s side, but they seem a long way off from previous glory days at this stage of the season.
With international players slowly dripping back into their club sides, the business end of the season is fast approaching, meaning the intensity will go up a notch in the Premiership.
Gloucester need to make sure they are able to match this upturn, and a comfortable win over Wasps would be a great way to start.
The last two home wins for the Cherry and Whites have come against Exeter and Saracens, so they will be significant favourites on Saturday.
But we’ve seen before the favourites tag means nothing for Johan Ackermann’s men, who are still to find the secret to a consistently high level of performance.
