In going about your business today take a good look at the pimply adolescents you encounter and consider how many look like they could leap over tall buildings or outrun a speeding bullet.
I don't suspect you will see that many, but if the critics of Scottish rugby are to be believed then some of them really should be capable of such feats because to achieve what is expected of the national rugby team we would have to be a race of super human beings. Apparently it is not enough to be competitive, Scottish players fail in their responsibilities, it would seem, if they do not win with style.
Yet the International Rugby Board statistics on playing numbers indicate the scale of the challenge that faces Scotland's coaches. Among their immediate peer group - the other members of the Six Nations - Scotland has no right whatsoever to be competitive with fewer than 25,000 registered players. More than two and a half times as many women (58,871) play the game in England. The number of male players in England is 716,505.
No wonder Brian Ashton, England's coach, is under pressure. For every Scottish player at every level of the sport England should, by definition, have 28. It ought to be a source of national shame that Scotland can ever beat them at rugby.
Playing numbers in France are registered as 212,059, in Ireland as 100,974, in Italy as 45,376 and in Wales as 42,000. My own view is that the Welsh number is rather conservative but even if accurate their rugby culture is such that the majority of young men with sporting talent target rugby as their first-choice sport.
For argument's sake the official figures are sufficient anyway because the comparison is powerful enough. They show that far from failing, as so many constantly claim, the elite end of the Scottish game is as effective as any professional sport set-up anywhere in terms of maximising the effectiveness of what is available to it.
That is not to say that Scottish coaches are not fallible and Frank Hadden has made plenty mistakes. Yet since taking over as national coach he has managed to find a combination of structures and strategies that, in less than three years, have produced wins over all of Scotland's Six Nations rivals.
He spoke with typical passion on that subject this week when I asked him about the importance of using victories over higher-ranked teams to promote the sport.
"It's been tough in Scotland for a long time," he said. "Since professionalism started it's been a real battle and I think we can be incredibly proud of what we've done.
"One of the measures of what we've achieved since professionalism is the result on Friday night where the Under-20s lost 44-12 to England. That is not an unusual result for our age group teams, but our job in professional rugby is to do something about that.
"At Under-18, Under-19, Under-20 level the track record is not great.
I don't think our Under-20s have won a match since they started that age group was introduced last year and it's not unusual for them to be well beaten. However, we know that some of these guys will be playing against England at a senior level in a few years time and we've got to try to get them in a position where we can beat them.
"It's not always been a bed of roses, it's not always been a smooth ride, but that really is a testament to a lot of good work in professional rugby in Scotland that we've closed that gap."
Interview: Frank Hadden
This is not to say that beating England makes everything all right, or to make excuses or to suggest Scottish rugby should not aim to do much better.
It will not, though, until much more talent is available and in that regard the Scottish Rugby Union remains culpable, not least those in its community rugby division who have completely failed to understand the extent to which some of what they are doing reinforces the sport's middle-class image.
However, citing these figures is aimed at offering perspective in demonstrating why Scotland does not have talent comparable to its rivals. As things stand Scottish players do extraordinarily well to compete. Those asking them to be supermen had better be aware that when they push them over the edge and demand that they fly, they are more likely to emulate Buzz Lightyear, making a fine spectacle of themselves when, as in Dublin last month, they fall with style.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article