Scotland co-captain Finn Russell admitted it has been “tough” facing up to the reality of going into the business end of yet another Guinness Six Nations campaign without being in title contention.
The Scots have failed to finish in the top two since winning the last Five Nations in 1999 and their barren run is set to continue after back-to-back defeats by Ireland and England ended their latest tilt at glory with two games remaining.
Russell feels it is “small margins” – such as the contentious disallowed try at home to France last year and several moments of wastefulness against England a fortnight ago – that are often costing his side in the big games, but he concedes that overall they simply need to be better when it matters.
“I look at last year when we weren’t given that try against France, that put us out of title contention and then against England the other week… it’s such small margins at this level,” he said ahead of Saturday’s clash at home to Wales.
“As a team, we need to get better. It sounds simple, doesn’t it? When we do get chances, we need to take them and have that ruthless edge that a lot of people talk about, but it’s tough to actually do.
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“Looking back at the England game, we’re looking at what we could have done differently. How do we change to looking back in a positive way? To saying, ‘we did that differently. We actually learned from our mistakes and got the result we needed to.’
“As a team, we say we’re growing and developing and we come into every tournament hoping we’re going to win it. But we do need to learn and get better from these games. It’s not an easy thing to do.
“I’ve been here quite a few times now and it’s the same kind of story. It’s tough, it’s slipped away now so the best thing we can do is have a good game this weekend against Wales, hopefully get the result, then go to France and hopefully get the result over there.
“I know it’s tough that we can’t win the tournament now, but we’ve still got to finish this on a high leading into the summer, then next year’s Six Nations. When we can’t win the tournament, we have to then try to build and learn from what we’ve done in the last few games. I don’t know the answers. If I did, we’d probably not be in this situation.”
Russell expects Wales to be a tough opponent for his side despite losing their last 15 matches.
“It’s a massive game for us as a team,” he said. “I think this game’s going to be a lot tougher than what fans probably think it’s going to be. Wales ran Ireland really close in that middle game, they’ve got a new coach and they’ve probably got a new lease of life there.
“For us as a squad, bouncing back off two losses, tough losses, especially down in England, it’s looking to show the character we’ve got. I’m hoping we have a brilliant performance and we get a good win.”
