Six Nations: Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw to quiz referee before Wales clash

Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw will talk to the referees to ensure his side stay "squeaky clean" against Wales.

The Scots lost their opening Six Nations clash with France on Saturday 15-8 after gifting Camille Lopez a string of kicking chances in the Stade de France.

They take on Wales - smarting from their defeat to England - this weekend and the penalty count must stay down if they are to avoid Leigh Halfpenny wracking up big points for the visitors.

In an effort to keep his side on the right side of the penalty count, scrum-half Laidlaw said he would quiz New Zealander referee Glen Jackson - the former Saracens fly-half - ahead of the game on just how far he will let both sides go at the breakdown and set-piece before pointing to the posts.

"There was a couple of things that went wrong with the penalty decisions in Paris,” Laidlaw said.

“We got caught in a ruck sometimes and the referee gave them a penalty. Some of their decisions were debatable, some of them were tough.

There was a couple of things that went wrong with the penalty decisions in Paris

"As the game went on France were able to chip away at us and that cost us the game.

“So looking ahead to this weekend we'll speak to the referee before the game and get his interpretations, make sure we're on the right wavelength and hopefully I can talk him round if needed.

"But we will just try to be squeaky clean while we can - the best way to deal with it is not give the referee a decision to make."

Good news arrived for Scotland with the news winger George North had been ruled out of the Wales team following two head knocks in the loss to England last Friday.

But with all points now precious to Scotland if they are to remain a tournament force, Laidlaw is still wary of North’s replacement.

"They've brought in Liam Williams to replace North and he's a very good player in his own right, so they're strong across the board," he said. "It's very important that we get a result. 

“Coming back here to Murrayfield, if we want to do anything in this competition we need to win this weekend.”