DUNCAN WEIR insists that Scotland can make an impact on the RBS 6 Nations Championship, but only if they carry the momentum from this month's run of games into the tournament's opening weeks.
The fly-half also believes that all the club-and-country encounters coming up - Glasgow face Toulouse twice in the European Champions Cup in the next three weeks - could hold the key to victory in France.
"Think of all the mini club-country battles you get in Europe and we can take lot of confidence coming off the first two [European] games," he said. "In the Six Nations, you always have to take it one game at a time but we will be targeting the first couple of games. If you get off to a good start, the competition spreads out.
"There are always a few shock results throughout the championship, so if you can get the first couple of games out of the way and get good performances and good results then the championship takes over. You go game by game after that."
Certainly, the first games appear tough. Scotland open in the Stade de France, where they have not won since 1999, against a France side they have beaten only once in the Six Naitons - in 2006. They then host Wales, who they have not beaten since 2007, have beaten three times in the 15 years the tournament has been running and who defeated the Scots 51-3 earlier this year.
Weir is convinced, though, that Scotland are turning a corner and the last Six Nations results, in particular, are irrelevant. "After the positive displays [this month] everyone gets the excitement and hunger to go on and do good things," he said.
"Turning back to last season, the atmosphere after the England game was of bitter disappointment but that has changed. I believe it has changed to mean that there are good times ahead of us. I'm also excited to come back to a good atmosphere [at Glasgow], like the one we built over the last three weeks with Scotland.
"We have a big couple of weeks ahead of us, they are exciting times."
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