Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw believes it is crucial they have a successful RBS 6 Nations if the players are to get over the heartbreak of this year’s World Cup.
Bernard Foley’s last-gasp penalty denied the Scots a first World Cup semi-final place in 24 years, as they Wallabies claimed an enthralling 35-34 victory.
And the Gloucester scrum-half insists Vern Cotter’s men must improve on their 2015 RBS 6 Nations campaign, when they finished bottom of the pile, if they are to move on from the events at Twickenham in October.
“I’ve only watched the quarter-final once,” Laidlaw told the Mail on Sunday. “I can’t stomach to watch it again. I’ll think about it forever.
“Life goes on and if we can have a successful RBS 6 Nations we can deal with the heartbreak. If we go on and have a poor tournament it will linger and linger.
“I’m probably not over it (the quarter-final defeat). I am and I’m not. People will look back on that scoreline and think, ‘Scotland came close’, but they’ll never feel what we felt.
“The dressing room was a dire place to be after that. There were boys in tears. Some boys were pretty angry.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever been clapped into a press conference. It was a pretty surreal experience. Looking back now it was weird and something hopefully I will never be involved with again.”
Click here for the 2016 RBS 6 Nations schedule
