Bubble has not burst, insist beaten Scots

Scotland ran out at Murrayfield full of hope ahead of their RBS 6 Nations opener after marching to the World Cup quarter-finals last autumn.

But it was the same old story for Vern Cotter’s team as they failed to make the most of their openings while Eddie Jones’ men claimed a 15-9 Calcutta Cup victory thanks to tries from George Kruis and Jack Nowell.

Scotland have now gone eight matches without a championship win – their worst-ever run in the competition.

But Edinburgh prop Dickinson believes Scotland can still cling onto the confidence they collected at the World Cup and use it to resurrect their campaign.

Asked if his side’s self-belief had been sapped away after losing in the capital, Dickinson said: “It’s not. It’s always hard. The Six Nations is such a massive tournament, it’s a long tournament. So we can’t get too down on ourselves.

“Obviously we are gutted after Saturday’s result but we have to be confident we can go and win games.

“There is no easy way to do that, especially when you lose your opener.

“But we have to pick ourselves up. There’s no magic blueprint unfortunately, but it will come. I really believe that.”

A trip to Cardiff to face Wales, though, is probably the last place Scotland would have asked to go to while looking to kick-start their Six Nations.

Two years ago they suffered their heaviest ever championship defeat when they were thumped 51-3.