Grant Gilchrist hurting as another Six Nations slips past Scotland

Scotland forward Grant Gilchrist admitted ‘it hurts’ to be talking about another Six Nations campaign that will not end in a title challenge after their Twickenham heartbreak.

The Scots lost by a single point in the Calcutta Cup as a late missed conversion saw England triumph 16-15 – their first victory over their oldest rivals in five years.

The result effectively knocks Scotland out of contention for the championship but Gilchrist saw signs in the performance in London, where they outscored their hosts by three tries to one, that they can finish the spring campaign strongly.

The 78-cap second row said: “That level of performance is going to win us more games than it loses us.

“We have to now look at winning our last two games and see where that will leave us in the championship.

“That will depend on other results. That is where we are at and it hurts to be saying that.

“I want to be standing here saying ‘we have two games and a chance to win the championship’ but we weren’t quite good enough.”

Wales head to Edinburgh for the next round of games on March 8 buoyed by a positive performance as they ran reigning champions Ireland close in Cardiff, before losing 18-27.

The Welsh have endured a torrid year, losing 14 straight test matches, but showed signs of improvement under interim head coach Matt Sherratt, who has taken charge at short notice following the departure of Warren Gatland.

Gilchrist said: “Six Nations games are so tough and every game is a proper test match. If you are not at your very best, you don’t win.

“Wales will be taking a lot of positives from their game [against Ireland] and they will be coming up to Murrayfield to win.

“For us, it has to be another step forward in our performance levels and I believe if we add another layer on to what we put together [against England] we will win the game next week.

“Then we go to Paris looking to add a bit more again and win there.”