Standout performer: Beattie
Johnnie Beattie insists Scotland showed enough in their Six Nations opener against France to be confident of upsetting Wales this weekend.
Glasgow number eight Beattie was arguably one of only two of Andy Robinson's players to enhance their reputation in the dispiriting 18-9 defeat at Murrayfield.
France completely dominated territory and could easily have won more convincingly, even though the Scotland camp claim it was the taking of chances that was the biggest difference between the sides.
"We did show that we can create things and if we can finish off then we'll be dangerous," said Beattie, who made one telling break in the first half which the home side failed to finish off.
"It's disappointing to get off to that start but you've just got to have a 'next game' mentality, look forward to the next challenge and get back on that horse quickly and look to reverse things.
"It's good that it's only six days away."
Wales also lost their opening match, going down 30-17 to England, but the manner of their defeat was in stark contrast to that of Scotland, with Warren Gatland's men arguably the better side at Twickenham with 15 men on the field.
Beattie applauded Wales' "strength of character", adding: "They really fought well when they went down (to 14 men) and they played really well.
"Some key players stood out, James Hook played really well.
"So if we can shackle these boys and get our attack operating the way it should then we can go down there and win.
"Both teams are going to look to rectify from this weekend, so it'll be massively tough. They're a talented bunch of players and very physical.
"But we're looking to go down there and win and we'll be positive about it."
Beattie and Sean Lamont will be the only Scotland stars not sweating on their place in the side for Saturday's trip to the Millennium Stadium.
The way the front row was demolished at times on Sunday means a likely recall for Euan Murray and possibly fellow prop Allan Jacobsen.
Graeme Morrison will also be looking over his shoulder after failing to contain two-try monster centre Mathieu Bastereaud, with Alex Grove waiting in the wings.
But the biggest call comes at fly-half after Phil Godman once again failed to produce under pressure.
Robinson must decide whether to persist with the Edinburgh man, switch Chris Paterson from full-back for his 100th cap, risk recalling the erratic Dan Parks, or blood the exciting but untried Ruaridh Jackson.
Whoever gets the nod will be tasked with getting a back line which is, on paper, full of ability, into the game.
Beattie also knows if that happens, Scotland must make more of whatever try-scoring opportunities come their way.
"We managed to make breaks in isolation, which was strange. Running in twos or threes next week, with at least one support runner, and we'll finish these things off," he said.
"We'll keep training the way we're training and hopefully bring that back to the pitch next weekend."
Avoiding the mistakes that led to Bastereaud's tries will also be crucial.
"They were particularly soft," Beattie said.
"We've got to look to remedy that, remedy the way we're defending around our ruck.
"We talked about that during the week but it's something that we didn't manage to execute the way we wanted to. We can change that moving forward, which is good."
Meanwhile, Robinson has added twelve players to his squad that will face Wales as fit-again co-captain Mike Blair returns to the line-up alongside Euan Murray.
Dan Parks, Ruaridh Jackson, Nick De Luca, Jim Hamilton, Dougie Hall, Simon Danielli and Rory Lamont also return to the Scotland camp while Ben Cairns, Scott Gray and Nikki Walker have also been recalled after missing out on the original Six Nations selection.
Comments
Turbo99 says...
Come on Scotland, they can do it this weekend, if they make those breaks and have support players then the tries will come, will be a good contest.
Posted 08:52 10th February 2010