DAVID Denton, the Scotland No 8, insisted last night that his team could upset the odds and win in Cardiff for the first time since 2004. Wales are strong favourites to win the RBS Six Nations Championship match, a result that would stretch Scotland’s losing run in the tournament to nine.

But Denton said that being written off would not concern him and his team-mates, and that they could bounce back from last week’s 15-9 defeat by England. Wales drew their opening game 18-18 in Ireland.

“Other people can say what they want, but we’re going out there to try and win this game, no matter what it takes,” the Bath forward said. “What we saw last week was that neither ourselves nor England played well, but they found a way to win. That is so important in international rugby.

“We want to play well and we want to score tries, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is winning. For us now as a team we’re getting to a point where we have a good team, we have put up some very good performances, but we haven’t got to where we want to in terms of winning the important games.

“We are a side which needs a win. We need this win, and it’s something I believe we can do.

“It would change the picture, as all of a sudden we’d have a decent run of games ahead of us if we get this result,” he continued, referring to the fact that Scotland’s next game, a fortnight today, is against Italy. “It’s important that we take it one step at a time.

“We’re going to be in a very hostile environment on Saturday; we’re aware of that. The roof is also going to be closed, which we’re happy about. It’s also going to be very loud, but there aren’t many better places to play, for me, apart from Murrayfield.”

Scottish teams of the past have welcomed the lack of expectation before a game because it can help them feel they have little or nothing to lose. Denton, however, insisted that the squad were not concerned about external predictions, and that they would, as ever, expect the highest standards of themselves.

“There is a high expectation within the squad and that’s not going to go down. We expect a lot more from ourselves than we have potentially in the past.

“You don’t realise that at the time: you realise it in hindsight. You get to a point where we’re now expecting a lot from ourselves. I wouldn’t say we are expecting to come down here and win, but it’s something we feel we have to do, especially given the way the tournament has started

“We have to be confident: it’s important not to become demoralised. We are by no means out of this competition.

“We’ve lost an important game at home, and there’s no getting away from that, but we have a massive opportunity to play a side who have been one of the world’s top teams over the last five years. It’s on their home patch, but we’re feeling confident as a team and as a squad and we need to bring that through.”

Besides the determination to get back on the winning trail after last week, Scotland are anxious to erase the memory of their last visit to Cardiff, when they lost 51-3. “I was involved two years ago and it’s something we have spoken about,” Denton added.

“We don’t want anything like that happening again. We’re a better team than we were two years ago, and we’re a closer team, which is important.”