Six nations: Beaten Scots face another physical test

VERN Cotter will get his Scotland squad back on the training pitch at BT Murrayfield today and look to lift their spirits for the upcoming trip to Cardiff following Saturday's 15-9 home loss to England.

Scotland's head coach Vern Cotter. Picture: Getty

It was yet another opening-day Six Nations defeat for the Scots, their tenth in a row, and things don’t get any easier as they next face the Welsh, who drew 16-16 with Ireland in Dublin yesterday, at a venue where they haven’t won since 2002.

Scotland were outmuscled by a robust English defence and pack and Cotter knows Wales won’t present any less of a physical challenge. “No probably not, Wales are big and powerful,” said the Scotland head coach. “I just think there are things that we can take from that [England] game. If we can show a bit more composure at times – we were in their half eight times and did not score a try – those sort of things we really need to work on.”

Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg said: “Wales’ forwards will be punching around the corners all day and they will stick high balls up. We’ll look at their game against Ireland and see what we can learn from our game and, hopefully, there will be chances that we can finish off.”