Ryan Wilson believes Scotland are “on the right path” despite their Six Nations bid falling short yet again.
Sunday’s loss to Ireland at Murrayfield, following the defeat to France, extinguished hopes of a first title since 1999.
But Wilson believes Scotland can take a lot from the performances against the world’s top-two sides.
“I think you take a bit of hope out of them,” the Glasgow Warriors back row told the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast.
“That game against France, 19-0 down and to pull it back, there were opportunities and if we’d taken those we could have been a lot closer and probably even won that game. That’s the number two team in the world.
“We matched up and showed exactly what we could do against Ireland, the number one team in the world. We just fell off in the second half.
“If we can put two halves together like that first half, you’re pushing the number one team in the world.
“Nothing to worry about, I think we’re on the right path.”
Wilson thinks a third-place finish, which Scotland will likely secure if they claim a bonus-point victory over Italy on Saturday, would represent a good Six Nations.
He warns, though, that beating an improving Italian side is far from a formality, especially with Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg missing through injury.
“To finish third is good. It will be very interesting to see what happens this weekend with ‘Hoggy’ and Finn out, two massive key players,” said Wilson, who won the last of his 50 caps in the Six Nations victory over France in Paris in 2021.
“We’ve got a big old job to do against Italy because they will be feeling hard done by coming out of this tournament having played so well and made such big changes to their game yet to finish with no wins. Missing ‘Hoggy’ and Finn, they’ll be licking their lips.”
