LET’S GIVE‘EM WAT FOR

HAMISH WATSON says Scotland are ready to turn the heat on themselves in a bid to ignite their Six Nations campaign.

The Dark Blues face Wales this weekend and the flanker is set for his first international start since suffering a broken hand while playing for Edinburgh in January.

After opening with a win over Italy, Gregor Townsend’s side have failed to deliver on huge expectations this season, suffering back-toback defeats against Ireland and France.

Watson, however, is convinced it’s time to come good in Edinburgh.

He said: “We put the pressure on ourselves.

“There’s pressure from the fans, maybe a bit from the media but we’re the ones who put pressure on ourselves to win as well. The reason there’s pressure is that we’ve done so well the last couple of years, so it’s a good pressure to have.”

Wales arrive at Murrayfield with Grand Slam ambitions still intact but Watson is only BY GORDON PARKS interested in rebuilding the winning home record which was shattered against the Irish last month.

“It’s always frustrating to lose that home record,” he said. “We hadn’t lost a Six Nations game at Murrayfield for two years so it’s frustrating.

“You’re going to lose a home game eventually but you have to bounce back as quickly as possible.

“You can’t dwell on it SCOTLAND have suffered a double injury blow after backs Sean Maitland and Chris Harris were both ruled out of the Six Nations clash with Wales.

Both players sustained calf and foot problems while on duty with their English Premiership clubs at the weekend. And they have been added to a growing list of absentees from Gregor Townsend’s Scots squad.

The Dark Blues head coach drafted in eight players on Monday. because we’ve got another huge game this weekend against a team going for a Grand Slam. It’s at our place, so we need to bounce back with a win.”

The campaign is now an exercise in saving face so there could be changes.

A squad which has already been decimated by injuries has been stretched to the limit but Watson believes it’s a positive to have so many new caps stepping up to the plate.

He said: “It’s a good opportunity. We’ve seen that with some of the boys stepping up for first caps or still pretty inexperienced and they’ve done really well.

“Looking ahead to the World Cup it’s good some of these players get some extra caps under their belts.”