Hugo Southwell expects 'positive reaction' from Scotland in Wales
Friday 12 February 2016 15:13, UK
Former full-back Hugo Southwell expects Scotland to react positively to last week's defeat when they take on Wales in Cardiff this Saturday.
The Scots travel to the Principality Stadium keen to put the misery of their opening-day Six Nations loss to England behind them.
Southwell, who played 59 times for Scotland between 2004-2011, had been hopeful of a good display against Eddie Jones' side following their fine showing at the World Cup last year.
However, he concedes the disappointment over a narrow defeat is a mark of Scotland's progress, claiming not so long ago it would have been shrugged off as 'just another loss'.
"It shows what we are up against to try and reverse that trend," he said. "England were clinical and did what they needed to do.
"Scotland did not play to their potential. They just couldn't cope with England's aggressive tackling, got no momentum and found it impossible to get over the gain line and break England down.
"Ultimately if that had been back in the day when things weren't going so well for Scotland then it would have just been another poor performance.
"It was a backward step in the sense that I thought during the World Cup, by scoring the tries they did and supporting the ball carriers like they did, that they showed what they could do.
"Wales will be smarting from their draw with Ireland so it will be very interesting, but I firmly believe there will be a positive performance this week and more in line with what happened during the World Cup."
