Despite suffering a narrow defeat to England in their previous Six Nations encounter, Scotland are determined to finish their 2025 campaign with a high in the Championship’s remaining two rounds.

That is the word from Scotland tighthead prop Zander Fagerson ahead of his side’s clash with Wales at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Scotland got their Six Nations campaign off to a solid victory over Italy before suffering back-to-back losses against defending champions Ireland and England.

That means they are out of contention for title honours and although their 16-15 reversal against the Red Rose at Allianz Stadium Twickenham was a frustrating result, Fagerson revealed that they have put that result behind them and are fully focused on securing victories against Wales and France, who they will face in Paris in their final Test of the Championship on March 15.

‘It’s all about the small margins’

“We were all pretty gutted after the game,” he said. “We were close. The boys put in a good shift, but it’s just that one percent, that five percent in international rugby, it’s all about the small margins.

“But we’ve had that week to regroup. This competition, it comes so thick and fast that you can’t rest on your last performance, so it’s all about making sure we just right our wrongs and go out there and win these last two games.

“That’s the goal going forward, going out there and putting in performances that Scotland, and we ourselves as players, can be proud of.”

Meanwhile, Wales head into this weekend’s clash with their backs to the proverbial wall as they are currently on a 15-Test losing streak and languishing at the bottom of the Six Nations standings.

However, they delivered a much improved performance in their last Six Nations encounter against Ireland before suffering a 27-18 defeat in Cardiff.

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That match was Wales’ first under the guidance of interim coach Matt Sherratt, who will stay in the position until the end of the Six Nations, and although Scotland head into Saturday’s clash with Wales as the favourites, Fagerson is not understimating his opponents.

“The Welsh have always been a really passionate team,” said the forward. “They’re really proud to play for their country and they’ve got some dangerous players, so you can’t be underestimating them at all.

‘We’re preparing to the best of our ability’

“It doesn’t matter what’s happened with the last results. On their day, they’re a very dangerous team, so we’re preparing to the best of our ability to make sure we go out there and try and nullify their threats.

“They’ve got some dangerous backs and they’ve got a good forward pack as well so it’s going to be a tough game.”

Fagerson was included in the British and Irish Lions squad for their trip to South Africa in 2021 and will be hoping to be part of the selected group when the famous touring team go on their highly anticipated tour to Australia later this year.

He said, however, that Lions’ selection is not something which he is thinking about at the moment.

“No, not at all,” he said. “It’s all about doing the controllables. What can I control? I can put my best performances out on the pitch. What will be will be afterwards in terms of who gets picked.

“All I can do is control what I can and that’s going out there and making sure I do my role for the team on Saturday, if selected.”

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/scotland-out-to-right-wrongs-of-england-defeat-against-passionate-wales-zander-fagerson