Gregor Townsend insists Scotland's glorious last gasp Calcutta Cup win over England still leaves plenty of room for Six Nations improvement.
Duhan van der Merwe's brilliant brace and tries from Huw Jones and Ben White secured the first ever back-to-back wins at Twickenham as a heroic display saw the dark blues retain the trophy in dramatic fashion. The 29-23 bonus point success saw the Scots fight back against the Auld Enemy as the contest went down to the last few minutes with Van der Merwe diving over to stun Steve Borthwick's side and trigger a London party for the thousands of travelling fans who lapped up the making of history.
But the Scots head coach admits last night's result will mean NOTHING if it's not followed by a win over Wales at Murrayfield next weekend. He said: "We have to be better - that wasn't our best performance. That's now the exciting thing for us, that we can grow more in this tournament.
"To win from behind, when you've only got five minutes, to score such a good try makes it all the more special. But it will mean nothing if we don't recover, train well and improve next week.
"England are a top, top side. Coming to Twickenham for any team is really difficult. You get belief from how you've gone against a team in the past. 2018 unlocked opportunities here.
"It's huge in this tournament to win your first game as this tournament is all about momentum. It's great now as we can look towards next weekend with positivity and belief. In the last two Six Nations we have played Wales after beating England and we haven't won.
“I felt a lot of emotion at the end, I don't know whether it was the noise, the occasion or that I never came close to winning here as a player."
Townsend lapped up a success in London that emulated the triumph in the capital two years ago, which was played out behind closed doors due to Covid restrictions. And the head coach admits his side didn't get into their stride until after the interval.
He said: "The second-half would have been great to watch with the tries which were scored and the nature of the win from our perspective and then manage to hold on at the end. It was just how you'd want any test match to finish.
"In terms of performance, we know we are much better than that. We never got going much in the first half, we had two really good opportunities which we took. The effort was there as was the togetherness but the accuracy didn't come until the second half.
"The players who started were given an opportunity, it can become a matter of opinion in pubs up and down the country but they were given the opportunity and it was up to them to grab it. After the way the players had trained this week, we were really encouraged that they would take that onto the game.
"Our energy levels grew throughout the game which was a testament to their fitness but also their resolve. They took a lot of tackles but still looked like a team which was ready for more at the end of the game."
