As Scotland reflected on what might have been had they kept their heads against Ireland at the weekend, France were descending into full revolution mode in the wake of an embarrassing capitulation at Twickenham.
It will be fascinating to see whose wounds have healed the fastest when both nations meet in Paris and the next round of Six Nations fixtures kick into gear in just under a fortnight.
For Gregor Townsend, the walking wounded include Stuart Hogg and Huw Jones, whose shoulder and knee injuries, respectively, will be assessed this week. More troubling news came with confirmation that Ryan Wilson will be out for the remainder of the tournament with a knee injury.
Stuart Hogg is among Scotland's walking wounded after limping out of their loss to Ireland
For France, the problems run far deeper. In many regards, they are mental not physical.
It is difficult to quantify just how damaging and humiliating the 44-8 reverse to England was the Gallic psyche. In the aftermath, the pressure on coach Jacques Brunel is now intense. In some French quarters, there are already calls for him to go.
Among the players, there are also suggestions that they are fed up with the way they are being asked to play.
Scrum-half Morgan Parra revealed that preparation for their Six Nations clash at Twickenham failed to include even the most basic elements of top-level rugby.
'I think that we are capable of doing what the English do, but are we working on this during training? I think we don't work on it enough, even not at all,' the 30-year-old said.
'Yet these are very simple things that are today part of high level rugby. We can do this. But do we work on it? No.
'After such a masterclass, we all need to question ourselves. From A to Z. We, the players, try to find solutions but it is complicated.' Centre Mathieu Bastareaud added that finding solutions of any kind was going to be 'extremely hard', while lock Sebastien Vahaamahina said that 'we have to open our eyes on the areas we need to work on'.
French fans are already turning on their team. The vast empty spaces in the Stade de France for their opening game with Wales was telling. So was the fact that in that game they somehow let a 16-0 interval lead turn into a 24-19 defeat.
If there was anger after that, then the fury at the way their side went down to England on Sunday was barely disguised. Brunel cut a remote and removed figure watching the game. The murky world of French rugby politics remains at play here but one wonders how much longer the 65-year-old can survive.
And this is where Scotland come in. For all the disappointment of defeat to Ireland, the real bitter pill was that much of the damage was self-inflicted. Cut out the errors and a first victory in Paris for 20 years could be possible.
Surely there is never a better
