For some cynics, Scotland may as well start booking their flights home from Japan for the day after the quarter-finals.
If they make it out of Pool A, it will be either New Zealand or South Africa who lie in wait in the last eight.
And given it is nine years since a Dark Blues XV last beat the Springboks while no Scottish team has ever toppled the All Blacks, the omens do not look good for Gregor Townsend's team.
But even that kind of talk is far too presumptuous for talisman Greig Laidlaw.
No-one in the Scottish camp, least of all the Clermont Auvergne scrum-half, needs reminding off how tough the opening clash with Ireland will be.
Russia and Samoa should be straight forward but Laidlaw knows there is a potential banana skin ahead in their final group game against the hosts that could well put the lid on their tournament.
"Every World Cup is difficult," he said. "Every team wants to win it and we're no different.
"But we're not looking past Ireland. That's the first game we've got out there and it's all we're thinking about.
"There's always a chance to do something special and I get that people are looking ahead and thinking about who we may face.
"But we're going to get who we get but only if we make it that far.
"We simply have to take it one game at a time. That means we can't look past Ireland. It will be the same with Samoa, Russia and then Japan, who will want to make a mark given they are hosts.
"If we do make it to the quarter-final of a World Cup then you can bet they will be a good rugby team regardless of the colour of the shirt."
At 33, the trip to the Far East is almost certainly Laidlaw's last chance to shine on rugby's biggest stage.
He missed out on the 2011 edition in New Zealand, while the tournament in England four years later ended in heartache as referee's Craig Joubert's costly mistaken offside call denied Vern Cotter's team a famous win over Australia and a ticket to the semi-finals.
For every Scot involved in that controversial evening at Twickenham, it remains a bitter memory. But that has taken none of the shine off the World Cup for Laidlaw.
"It's a driving force because it's Rugby World Cup," he said when asked if the recollections of England 2015 were spurring him on for the fight ahead.
"It's a big opportunity to get there and play. As a player it's the highlight of your career.
"We obviously played pretty well in the last tournament and we want to play well again this time and get a little bit further.
"These are special occasions and that definitely focus minds leading up to the tournament. As a team you know you're only going to get a certain amount of chances to play in something like that so it certainly narrows the mind a bit.
"My World Cup memories are certainly up there with the best I've got. It's difficult to pin-point one over the other.
"It was a fantastic tournament last time around and it was a pleasure to be involved in it despite the way it ended.
"We've spoken a bit about the fact that you don't get to experience that too often and we're certainly going into it highly motivated to do well in the tournament."