Forwards coach John Dalziel says Scotland will not rest on their laurels after winning the Calcutta Cup and know they must improve for Saturday’s trip to Wales.
A dramatic 20-17 win over their great rivals at BT Murrayfield saw Scotland retain the famous trophy, and they have now lost just one of their last five encounters against England.
However, Dalziel believes that the side did not play anywhere near their best and is excited about the team’s potential through the rest of the Championship.
“They were special moments on Saturday, with a full Murrayfield singing and supporting the lads as they came off the field, seeing them lift the Calcutta Cup,” he said.
“That’s special and they enjoyed that, but realistically we didn’t actually play well. It was a pretty scrappy game.
“It’s exciting that we know we can still play a lot better. Looking at the stats, from being a team that usually dominates possession we had to live off scraps at the weekend. We put some great moments together and we took some opportunities despite the weather.
“The players are very grounded. They know they can get better.
“The game at the weekend will have done us a lot of good because there were areas where we were second best, and that’s the exciting part about growing into the competition.”
Scotland will now head to the Principality Stadium this weekend as they look to make it two wins from two.
Wales will be looking to pick up their first win of the 2022 Guinness Six Nations after an opening defeat to Ireland, and Dalziel is fully aware of the challenge that Scotland face.
Scotland beat Wales in Llanelli in 2020 but have not won in Cardiff since 2002 and Dalziel is wary of treating his side as the favourites coming into the contest.
He said: “Wales away is one of the most formidable challenges so this presents an opportunity for us to develop and grow as a team and take another step forward. We’ll need to be better against Wales this weekend.
“We’ve had some good results and these are not one-offs. We are a team that believes we can go up against any team and win but the stats are not good – we haven’t won down there since 2002.
“In terms of favourites I’m not quite sure about that. A full stadium with Wales playing their brand of rugby at home, we have to prove that we can back up results.
“They’re the same guys we’ve played against domestically so we’ve got to get down there and show that we’re not the Scotland of old who would win one week but then not be able to go to difficult places and win.
“We need to prove that to everyone and to ourselves. I can see that being the focus of the motivation of the lads as we keep building towards the weekend.”
