Scotland 'further forward' after Six Nations - Taylor

Simon Taylor believes Scotland are a better side than at the start of the RBS 6 Nations, despite admitting they were one of the “three weaker teams” in the tournament.

Ian McGeechan’s team went into the competition on the crest of a wave after their dramatic 21-6 triumph against South Africa at Murrayfield, their first victory over the Springboks in 33 years.

However, they were brought crashing back to earth with an opening-weekend defeat against Ireland before subsequent heavy losses to France and England.

The two home wins over Wales and Italy ensured Scotland avoided the wooden spoon and finished the best of the second tier of the championship.

And Taylor, who was yesterday named the Famous Grouse Player of Season 2002-03, believes there are still positives to take from a disappointing campaign as they start the build-up to the World Cup in Australia in October.

The 23-year-old number eight said: “I think we should look at the South Africa game as a one-off occasion and maybe we would have hoped to build on it a bit more, but things don’t always work out that way.

“But I think the team definitely improved – we couldn’t get much worse than the Irish game.

“In the French game we weren’t fantastic, but it was a wee step up and then if you’re winning you’ve got to say your doing something right.

“In our first two games we didn’t really play well at all.

“It’s the worst feeling in the world when you lose by those sorts of margins, but we managed to pull ourselves back a bit again for the Wales game.

“I think we had a couple of pretty good results at home and from the England game we can take the fact that we could compete with them for a lot of the game, but we have to work on their clinical finishing and taking chances when they come along.”

He added: “I think we’re further forward than at the start of the Six Nations.

“We can take confidence from a couple of the performances and if you’re last game is a win then you feel better going into the next game.

“We’re realistic, we know certainly this year we were one of the three weaker teams in the Six Nations and we’ve got to be aiming to beat the three other teams.

“In a World Cup year, you’re looking to beat any team you come up against.”