Scotland hooker Ross Ford is keen to keep improving as he looks to see his side overcome Wales in Cardiff.
Scotland hooker looks for improvement
Scotland hooker Ross Ford is keen to keep "improving" as he looks to see his side overcome Wales in Cardiff.
Although Scotland suffered a 27-6 defeat to France in their opening RBS Six Nations clash at Murrrayfield, Ford produced a promising display.
And with a crucial clash with Wales coming on Saturday, Ford is keen to focus in development as he looks to stake an early claim for a place in the 2009 British Lions squad.
He said: "I'm feeling more used to playing at this level which is good. I'm just looking to keep improving.
"The standard I experience in the Heineken Cup for my club is pretty close to what it's like in a Test match.
"Playing in European games is a huge help in terms of my development but what you do notice is the fact small mistakes get really punished in Test matches. Teams will capitalise on our mistakes and we made too many against France.
Sharp
"You simply can't drop your guard for a minute. You've got to be sharp for the full 80 minutes. That is a big difference.
"In the first half the scrums were going well but in the second the French stepped it up a bit I think. It was frustrating to be doing so well and then to let it slip.
"It's a hard one to put my finger on and I'd need to look at the video properly before making any bold statements but it was maybe a combination of getting a bit tired and also a lack of concentration."
Defeat in Cardiff will leave Scotland in danger of a second successive wooden spoon - and although Ford remains in a positive frame of mind, he knows that his side need to cut out the mistakes.
The 23-year-old said: "We need to get rid of the simple errors. If we'd done our job properly it wouldn't have come down to the bounce of the ball which they got at times.
"We let them into the game and it was down to our errors which cost us. We'll analyse it on the video and find out what we did wrong and what we need to do to correct and then move forward."
