Laidlaw lays low on hype
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Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw pledged that his side would not be getting "carried away" ahead of the Six Nations and Rugby World Cup next year, despite rediscovering their try scoring touch in their most prolific November home Test series for eight years.
Five tries in Scotland's 37-12 victory against Tonga at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock on Saturday brought their tally of five-point scores in their three November internationals to 11 – their biggest haul since 2006.
After running in five tries in a 41-31 victory against Argentina and one in a 24-16 defeat against New Zealand in their opening two internationals at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, the Scots finished with the flourish of a further five in their ultimately convincing success against the Tongans on the artificial pitch at the home of Kilmarnock Football Club.
"We have not got to get carried away, because there's a tough competition coming up," said Laidlaw, looking ahead to the 2015 Six Nations Championship, which starts for Scotland with a trip to Paris to face France on February 7.
"It always comes round pretty quickly.
"But it's brilliant from a player's perspective to know that we can cause teams so many problems now. We're getting the end credits as well. You can see we're being able to cross the try line again."
Scotland failed to score a single try when they lost 21-15 to Tonga in Aberdeen in 2012. Laidlaw scored all of their points with his right boot that day, landing five penalties.
Two years on, Laidlaw's three conversions and two penalties in Kilmarnock were extras to the five tries plundered by Blair Cowan, Stuart Hogg, Alex Dunbar, Geoff Cross and Tommy Seymour.
Asked what had made the difference, Laidlaw pointed to the influence of Vern Cotter, who joined Scotland as head coach immediately prior to their demanding June tour to the USA, Canada, Argentina and South Africa.
"Vern keeps going back to individual skill sets and we're really hammering that as a group and that's bearing fruit now," said Laidlaw.
"I think you can see that coming through now in the performances and in some of the tries that are being scored."
Cotter praised his side for markedly sharpening their play in the second half after eking out a slender 14-12 lead in an error-strewn opening half.
"The players simplified things in the second half and held on to the ball a bit more," said the former Clermont Auverge coach.
"They worked hard and managed to get on top and grind out an important win."
Looking ahead to the 2015 Six Nations and the World Cup, Cotter said: "This is great but where do we move to next? If we come back thinking we'll reproduce the same stuff, that's a dangerous trap.
"We'll be looking to move everybody forward and to improve our team performance as well.
"The players are playing for each other and playing for the shirt and playing for the people who are coming to watch them. That's really pleasing to see.
"The team has a soul and wants to perform better and better."
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