GREIG Laidlaw is sure there is now concrete evidence that Scotland are seeing the benefit of more than two months of intensive training. The results of the Rugby World Cup warm-up games held thus far have not been spectacular, but the scrum-half , who was not involved in either, believes nonetheless that the nature of his team’s performances in those matches has highlighted their physical improvement.

In Dublin, the Scots finished very much on the front foot and lost by less than a full score, 28-22. In Turin, they were under pressure for much of the game yet ended strongly to win 16-12. In both cases, according to Laidlaw, this pattern differed from what was the case during the Six Nations Championship, in which they lost all five games and often faded late on.

“I think we finished strongly in the last two games, and we take great heart from that,” Laidlaw said after being named as captain for the return match against the Italians, at Murrayfield on Saturday. “When we look back to the Six Nations, each of the first-half performances were probably the best and we tailed off in the second half.

“So to see us finishing strongly in the first two games shows that we’ve had a shift in that. We’re fitter and stronger and we can last 80 minutes.

“To go away to Ireland and win there at the moment would be very, very difficult. The performance was good out there. The performance was probably slightly down against Italy, but we won.

“It’s important this weekend that we win the game. Winning breeds confidence in the group and in the individual, so if we can go out again this weekend and win it would be two wins out of three. Going to France is always tough” - Scotland’s last warm-up match is in Paris on Saturday week - “but if we can pull something off out there we’ll take massive confidence from that.”

Although they lost their last Six Nations match heavily, going down 40-10 in a match that saw Ireland crowned champions, Scotland were far closer in their previous four defeats. The match against Italy was the hardest of all the losses to take given that victory had been within Scotland’s grasp, which made the win last week all the sweeter, as it came after Italy had been on top.

“Our performance last weekend was probably a bit scrappy from both teams, but we scored more points than them,” Laidlaw continued. “In the Six Nations game, we probably slightly edged the performance, although it wasn’t great, but then they scored more points than us.

“So it’s important to win. It’s very important for us again this weekend to put in a big performance, especially the boys that are fresh - leading by example.

“Certainly for parts of the game we’ve got to [dictate the play]. They sucked some of the life out of us at the weekend with their driving maul and their scrums. Some were maybe down to the referee, but that’s always going to happen.

“For large parts of the game it’s up to us to go out there and hold the ball ourselves. Get into their half, and once we’re there hold the ball and make them defend. Really put our stamp on the game and try to get as much speed in the play as we can.”

Laidlaw’s status as favourite to lead Scotland into the World Cup was underlined recently when Vern Cotter, the head coach, explained in detail why he thought scrum-half was the ideal position from which to captain a team. But, with Henry Pyrgos, another No 9, having led the team well against Ireland, Laidlaw is taking nothing for granted.

“You shouldn’t presume anything,” he replied when asked if we should read anything into his being named as captain of a Scotland squad that is now close to full strength. “I spoke to Vern throughout, so I know where I stand, basically.

“He’s given me the honour to be captain this weekend. If I just get out there, captain and play well, what will be will be. I’m not looking ahead - if I do I might take my eye off the performance this weekend. If I play well in the warm-up games everything else will take care of itself.”

Although Cotter did not explain his selection strategy in public, Laidlaw has been aware that he and a few others would not be called on in the first two games, which the coach used to assess the claims of some of his less established players. “I spoke to Vern a while ago. He’s had an opportunity to look at a couple of players in the first two games. He’s got to look at his options.

“He’s seen me play quite a lot and he knows what I’m all about. I’m just delighted to play this weekend and raring to go, and so are the other boys in the same position as me.”