Scotland skipper Jamie Ritchie is hoping the form of club sides Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors can power his team’s Six Nations charge.
Edinburgh has been in good form recently, qualifying for the Champions Cup’s knockout phase after a group stage that included a memorable win against Premiership front runners Saracens at the DAM Health Stadium. Mike Blair’s side also sits eighth in the United Rugby Championship (URC) heading into the second portion of the season.
Meanwhile, Glasgow seem to have found their feet under coach Franco Smith and have played some fantastic rugby recently, including a sensational last-gasp win over reigning URC champions the Stormers.
Use the form
Ritchie wants Scotland to harness the form of the domestic sides and use that to power their charge in the 2023 Six Nations.
The back-row believes Edinburgh’s win over Saracens can help boost the confidence of his side, considering how many England stars played in the clash.
“Certainly for the guys who played in that game, it will be a definite confidence boost knowing there were so many (England) internationals in that Saracens team and we dominated them for most of the game,” said Ritchie.
“We’ll take a huge amount of confidence from that. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow have hit a bit of form coming into this tournament so that can only bode well for our squad.”
Looking to continue recent fortunes
Scotland start their tournament with a trip to Twickenham to play England. Ritchie’s side has had decent success there over the last couple of seasons against the Auld Enemy, with a draw four years ago and a win in 2021, ending a 38-year drought at the famous ground.
“Growing up watching Scotland it was often hopefully, but for us now we’re confident that we can win every game we go into,” said Ritchie.
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“For us, it’s more about dealing with what comes along with that expectation in terms of criticism and scrutiny if you don’t live up to those expectations.
“We’d rather have it that way though because it shows the nation has belief in us that we can play well and win games.”
The opening round Calcutta Cup clash between Scotland and England is on February 4.