With the touch of a magician, Finn Russell made all of rugby’s problems disappear on Saturday evening, if only for a little while. All the concerns about tackle height and brain injury, all the controversies of governance and finance and myriad issues about where on earth this troubled sport is heading vanished for 40 breathless minutes as the one-time stonemason built an insurmountable lead for a record-busting Scotland.

Wales didn’t know what to do with Russell in that second half. The try that turned a sticky game into the beginnings of a rout was Kyle Steyn’s first one in the right-hand corner when Russell took out three Welsh defenders before offloading out the side door, like Sonny Bill Williams on his best day.

He did it at such pace and with such clarity that you could never tire of watching it. Russell gave the final pass or the final kick for three of Scotland’s five tries. He’s given the assist on 10 tries in his last nine Test matches since the beginning of last year, a number no other top tier player has matched in that same period.

In full flight, Russell reminds us of why we fell in love with rugby. Not for the collisions or the hard cases – for sure, they have for their place – but for the artists. Defence coaches are lauded now. The game is packed with experts with laptops spewing out video and data to aid game plans on how to neutralise people like Russell, but blessed are the days when attack triumphs over defence. And this was one of them.

When Scotland started to play with urgency the visitors must have felt like they were playing a game of Whack A Mole. No matter how many Scottish attackers they put down, another would pop up.

Duhan van der Merwe didn’t score, but he ran for 150m (almost 50m more than his Twickenham tour-de-force). Only Ireland’s Hugo Keenan topped him with a frankly absurd 205m against France in Dublin.

Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu didn’t score and assist as they did a week ago, but they presented a constant threat. It wasn’t always what they did with the ball that distracted Wales, it was the fear of what they might do. Their reputations went before them.

The least heralded member of that Scottish backline is probably Steyn and he scored twice. Blair Kinghorn came on early after Stuart Hogg failed an HIA and ran with such power and purpose from full-back that we can now announce the official death of the Blair Switch Project. Kinghorn was, is and always will be most effective at 15 and was such a presence in his 67 minutes on the pitch that it made you wonder if Gregor Townsend might contemplate pressing the nuclear button by playing him from the start in Paris instead of Hogg.

The head coach’s selectorial tombola is not what it was. In the interests of consistency and cohesion he’s likely to keep things as they are, given the chance. Kinghorn off the bench has become a hell of a weapon, though.

Positionally, he’s had a nomadic few months for club and country. Moving between 10, wing and full-back might have damaged his confidence, but his impact has been terrific. Despite being jettisoned at fly-half when the prodigal returned in the autumn, Kinghorn is playing some of the best stuff of his life in his new-old role.

‘Scotland will need a nine out of 10 in Paris’

The sophistication of Scotland’s attack in their opening two games of the championship has been something to see. Nine tries scored. All different types, all different skills involved, some startling solo runs, some epic team scores, some from grunt, others from grace. Trying to pick a favourite among them is like trying to choose your favourite child.

Scotland have had a razor sharp attack before, of course. They’ve also had, in 2020 and 2021, a mean defence. What they haven’t had nearly often enough is attack and defence functioning consistently at the same time in victory. They’re getting there now.

Even if they were all available, Rory Sutherland, Stuart McInally, Scott Cummings, Sam Skinner, Hamish Watson and Rory Darge would struggle to make it into this 23 not to mind the starting XV. They may need injuries to others to make it. As sure as night follows day, those injuries will come.

Squad depth is king. You can achieve nothing without it. And Townsend has it. With two bonus point wins in the bag along with an amount of momentum, Scotland are in the kind of place they could scarcely have dreamed about just over a week ago. This is when it gets really tough, though. Brutally so.

In a fortnight they go to Paris and a fortnight after that they have Ireland in Edinburgh. That’s the world number two and the world number one who just went toe-to-toe in one of rugby’s greatest games.

Townsend has rarely looked more assured – or happier – in his role than he does now. He said that Scotland went from a seven out of 10 against England to an eight out of 10 against Wales, but feels that a nine out of 10 will be required to beat France. He’s right.

He didn’t say what might be needed to beat Ireland, but given that Andy Farrell’s team have now defeated France, South Africa, New Zealand (twice), Wales (twice), Scotland, Australia and England in the last year despite injuries to key men along the way, let’s call it a 10. Or an 11.

France are Scotland’s focus for now. They’ve had one scratchy win against Italy and one defeat against Ireland, which will have angered them greatly. Losing to Scotland, with their home World Cup so close, would spark uproar with the big show not far down the road. To head it off at the pass, a ferocious French response is coming Scotland’s way. There’s no greater certainty.

France will come for Russell and you get the feeling that Russell wouldn’t have it any other way. He returns to Paris now and will most likely be playing for Racing against Brive next Saturday. Brive are one place off the bottom, desperate for points and unlikely to take prisoners. It’ll be a game to watch in the company of a stiff drink and a fervent hope that The Man gets through it unscathed.

With him on board at the Stade a week later, Scotland will be entitled to feel that anything is possible.