Sunday 20 March 2016 10:23, UK
Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw insists his side are moving in the right direction despite ending their Six Nations campaign with a loss to Ireland.
The Dark Blues were looking to record a third successive championship victory for the first time in two decades when they arrived in Dublin following back-to-back wins over Italy and France.
A 35-25 defeat at the Aviva Stadium has sapped some of the joy Vern Cotter's team built up in recent weeks but, a year on from trudging out of the tournament on the back of a five-defeat whitewash, Laidlaw is confident his side are making progress.
"This team's going forward, and I think that's clear - people should see that," he said. "If they don't, I don't know what games they're watching because we were in these Test matches.
"We were extremely disappointed with the way we started against England in the first match. We lost by six then went to Wales and lost by four.
"Even though we were ill-disciplined and disappointed with how we performed, we were still in it [on Saturday].
"If we can learn from this and be cool, keep hold of the ball and develop that, then we'll be in more games than not."
Coach Cotter was unhappy with the result, but was pleased with the progress he believes his team are making, the Scots having scored three tries for the third game in a row for the first time since 1999.
"We're not particularly happy, obviously, because we want to win games," he said. "It's better than last year, but we're still not completely satisfied. We want to get much better than that.
"I think this year is the highest number of points that Scotland have scored in the Six Nations. There are a few things that you could rattle off that are indicators that things are getting better. There is ambition within the group and we'll keep developing that."
