Laidlaw: Scotland can stop the slide

Welsh power eventually told in a game that Scotland led 16-13 at the hour mark, late tries from George North and Jamie Roberts sealing a dramatic 27-23 victory for Wales.

Scotland have not won in Cardiff for 14 years now and after a winless Six Nations last year, they have lost two from two to kick off the 2016 Championship. In between, they made a fine run to the World Cup quarter-finals however, and Laidlaw is hopeful that his side are on the verge of arresting the slide.

"We are getting closer. We are doing so many good things but a couple of soft moments cost us. Wales scored a couple of tries in five or six minutes. We just gave them the game in the end.

"Credit to Wales, they were better on the day. We need to improve on the line-out. At this level you need line-out ball and you need to keep the squeeze on," Laidlaw said.

Vern Cotter has now presided over seven consecutive losses in this Championship since taking over but next up is a trip to Italy. And the head coach has called on his side to use the pain of this defeat as motivation moving forward.

"It doesn't get any easier. I don't like losing. The information from that game will make us grumpier and will help us push for that win. The attitude was better, so if we can build on that we can keep on improving.

"We need to get better at stopping teams scoring," Cotter said.

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