Grieg Laidlaw says he can see that Scotland are being written off in the RBS 6 Nations after just one game, but is “quietly confident” they can produce an upset in Cardiff this week.
The skipper takes the Scots to a Welsh team who have not lost to their visitors in what is now Principality Stadium since 2002 and are regarded as having a strong case for another title under Warren Gatland.
Even Dan Biggar’s probable absence the stand-off is “progressing well” from an ankle sprain sustained on the first play of the draw in Dublin but is unlikely to be risked is unlikely to shake Welsh confidence, but Laidlaw is determined that the Scots have something up their sleeve to rebound for Saturday’s 15-9 loss to England.
“We still have a good feeling in the camp, and we’re not looking for anything or anywhere else but inside our group,” he said.
“This is the tightest knit group I’ve been involved with, all we need now is to go forward and win games in this tournament.
“We have been brutal with one another. We are all honest men and we are able to take things on the chin.
“I can see already that we are being written off. But we will keep that in-house as we are just one game into the tournament, we aren’t going to panic and we will stick together as players and coaches.”
The Scots may be about to change tack, with Laidlaw mentioning alterations to their training practice, and an apparent intention to play a more fluid and innovative game.
“We understand why we lost at the weekend but we are quietly confident, about this week, even if they went over to Ireland and got a draw which is a tough place to do that.
“(Attack coach) Jason O’Halloran is a clever coach and we have a couple of things that can cause Wales problems. But we have to execute them properly, on Saturday we had a couple of set plays, a couple of down the blind side which worked but we let England off the hook.”
The skipper will pass his uncle Roy Laidlaw’s 47 caps at the weekend, and is aware of the significance.
“It is no secret that Roy has been a huge inspiration to me,” he said. “I have looked up to him ever since I understood his achievements.
“47 caps in his day was a lot compared to now. He always enjoyed his time in the Scotland jersey and that is something I am alwaystrying to get across to the boys, although clearly we would enjoy it more if we won a couple more games.
“It is our time in the jersey now and that is something we have talked about a fair bit. We don’t want to sit back and in whoever many year it is from now think we never put our best foot forward.
“We really think we are doing that but understand everyone’s frustrations. There is nobody more frustrated people than the boys in the changing room.”
The way to put it right, they no, is by stunning Wales in Cardiff.
“This game is absolutely massive for us, we are going down to a tough place to win games of rugby and it’s a great place to go and play.
“We need to go there and enjoy it but we’ll need to get stuck in.”
Scotland have not yet decided on how they’ll play their choice of whether the stadium roof is open or closed.
Wales coach Warren Gatland wants it closed, and remains indignant that the away team is given the choice under World Rugby rules, but there’s a good reason for that, said Laidlaw.
“If the roof is shut it gets a bit sweaty and the ball gets wet after about 30 minutes,” he said.
“We will look at the weather forecast. If it is going to be terrible weather we will look to shut it because we want to play a positive game as well.
“We certainly will not be rushed into a decision.”