Six Nations: Scotland were left frustrated after another tight Six Nations loss

Coach Vern Cotter and captain Greig Laidlaw were left frustrated after Scotland produced a gutsy display against Wales at Murrayfield but finished the match with nothing to show for it.

A week after a hard-fought 15-8 loss to France in Paris, the Scots again performed very creditably but ended up on the wrong end of a 26-23 score-line after an absorbing and fluctuating encounter.

Having taken the lead when Stuart Hogg raced 70 metres for a first half try, Scotland found themselves 26-16 behind when Jonathan Davies crashed over in the 64th minute.

The hosts then rallied in the closing stages and replacement forward Jon Welsh went over for a late try but they finished three points short.

The result was a massive improvement on last year’s 51-3 thumping in Cardiff but, nonetheless, the Scots have lost their last four home Six Nations games and have won just seven of their 40 most recent matches in the annual showcase for European international rugby.

"We can take a lot of positives out of the game but we have a lot of things to work on and sort out," said Cotter.

"It is reasonably hard to take but it is done. We need to improve on our high ball receptions but there is a lot of honesty in the team.

"We went into our shell a little bit, we needed to keep expressing ourselves. Once we started attacking, I thought we became a threat."

Cotter also felt his side were unfortunate in terms of some of the refereeing decisions.

"There are a lot of things we don't have control of," he said.

"I don't want to lose a lot of energy talking about it, because it isn't going to change the result.

"Somebody will look at the refereeing display or decisions made on the paddock. We have things to sort out, and perhaps they will have as well.

"There were three penalties inside their 22 in the last 15 minutes. I thought some of those errors might have been cynical as well and maybe deserved a yellow card, but obviously not.

"That is the way it is. We deal with reality.

"The reality is that we got close and showed some good signs and played some good rugby, but we have to improve."

Skipper Laidlaw added: “It's very frustrating, we talked about fine margins after the France game.

“I think this group is becoming a strong team. We are playing loads better rugby but we just have to keep playing and having the confidence to play.

"It was a tight Test match throughout and we put them under loads of pressure in the end.

"We've got a massive game against Italy at home (in two weeks), and all that matters now is that we turn up in that game and get a positive result."