Winger Sean Maitland admits Scotland's Six Nations clash with France is a "must-win" game for both sides.
The Dark Blues' hopes of clinching a first championship title since 1999 suffered a blow in the form of a humiliating 34-7 defeat to Wales, while France lost out to a last-minute Johnny Sexton field goal in their opener against Ireland.
The nature of Scotland's opening-day defeat has seen all optimism from outside the camp extinguished after they conceded four tries, and a further loss would all but end their chances of making history after such a promising start to life under Gregor Townsend.
Maitland, who is expected to replace the injured Byron McGuigan at Murrayfield on Sunday, is aware they need a result against a France side who may well be low on confidence themselves after losing such a close game.
"They were very unlucky," he said. "If you take a spanking or lose like that, I'm not sure how you'd like to lose - those boys looked like they were hurting after the game.
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"They're in a similar situation to us, both picked up losses first-up and we can't afford to lose a second game."
"We know this is a really important game. The good thing for us is we're playing at home, our form over the last two years has been really good playing at home.
"It's a must-win game."
There is an added expectation on Scotland following two wins over the Wallabies last year and a narrow defeat against New Zealand, and flanker Hamish Watson accepts the players deserved the criticism thrown at them following the Wales defeat.
"I'd say it's expected to get a bit of a backlash after a loss like that," he said.
"I don't think many people were expecting it and the fans are probably quite right to be a bit hacked off after a game like that, but no one's hurting more than the players, so we need to put it right as well."
