Gregor Townsend has warned that Scotland will face a dangerous Wales team as they look to salvage some pride from another bitterly disappointing Six Nations campaign.
The Scots lost 16-15 to England at Twickenham on Saturday in a match which saw them outscore the hosts by three tries to one.
But a failure to kill them off left the door open and a disappointing second half saw Townsend’s side blow the chance of a historic fifth straight win over their fierce rivals.
Finn Russell missed a vital conversion which would have won it right at the death, with the defeat ending Scotland’s chances of challenging for silverware.
Wales, meanwhile, were much improved in their game against Ireland in Cardiff, despite losing 27-18, and pushed the Grand Slam-chasers all the way.
Having dispensed with Warren Gatland earlier in the Championship, they could now be awkward opponents at Murrayfield when the Six Nations resumes after a two-week break on March 8.
Head coach Gregor Townsend says Wales will be a dangerous opponent with nothing to lose
Finn Russell missed three conversions in Scotland’s narrow defeat by England on Saturday
‘Wales will have their tails up, they played well against Ireland,’ said Townsend.
‘They moved the ball a lot as well, so it’s going to be a real test for our defence.
‘They won a lot of scrum penalties against a very good Irish pack. That’s pretty much all I can analyse from what I was watching on the phone on the team bus on the way in.
‘But they will be full of positivity and feeling maybe they’ve got nothing to lose in their final two games, so that’s a dangerous opponent.
‘We’re back at home. We asked the players to show who we are as a team against England, both in attack and defence, but also to show what it means to play for Scotland in terms of the effort required.
‘They showed that away at a tough venue against a very good team. We just need to make sure that continues in our next two games.’
Scotland will have Darcy Graham back fit and available, with Kyle Steyn also nearing a return to full training. But they only have pride left to play for against the Welsh, before the final game against France in Paris.
Townsend expressed pride in Scotland’s performance on Saturday, but conceded they let England off the hook.
Wales captain Jac Morgan led his team to a much-improved performance against Ireland
He also refused to attach any blame to Russell, who missed three conversions and left six points out there in what was a poor performance overall from the Scotland fly-half.
‘Last year I think he was on 95 per cent and he’s been an excellent goal-kicker,’ said Townsend. ‘It takes more than just the skill of kicking. It takes a lot of mental focus and blocking things out.
‘I was thinking: “I’ve seen him make this kick so many times for us, he’s going to kick it”. But it happens. You’re not going to get those kicks all the time from further out.
‘Of course, he was down afterwards and was saying: “If only I’d made those kicks”. But he was very pleased by the team performance.
‘He knows that was a performance that should have led to us retaining the trophy.
‘There’s definitely mixed feelings when I was chatting to him in the changing room afterwards.
‘He cares a lot, the players care a lot about playing for Scotland. Finn cares a lot as well. He’s been here for a number of years and he’s been part of some great wins down here (at Twickenham).
‘He should have been part of another great win because a lot of what we were doing in attack was going through the half-backs, the decision-making, the effort, the accuracy. He was a big part of that.
‘It would have been an amazing feeling if we’d won.
‘On the balance of our play, we could have scored another couple of tries, which would have been an amazing effort.’
Meanwhile, Kyle Rowe insists he was gutted with a defeat that now ends any chance Scotland have of challenging for silverware in this season’s Championship.
‘Yeah, I’m gutted,’ said Rowe, who performed well in the absence of Graham on Scotland’s wing. ‘It’s hard to put into words, to be honest.
‘We felt we were the better team. We just left too many opportunities out there to go and win the game. In the first half, we were certainly the better team.
‘After we’ve dominated that first half, England were always going to come out and try to dominate us and play better. That was the chat we had in the changing room.
‘They may have won the second half, but we were still there. We still should have just gone and won that game.’
On the prospect of facing Wales, Rowe added: ‘They ran Ireland pretty close, didn’t they?
‘They’re not to be underestimated. A wee bit of time off next week. Let the bodies recharge and then rip into Wales.
‘We’re not going to underestimate Wales in the slightest.’
