THIS season's shock move from Scotland to England could play a key role in helping blue beat white on Saturday. David Denton, who was expecting to finish his season at Edinburgh before Bath swooped for his services at the start of December, reckons it is already helping him improve as a player and his new club mates had better watch out.

"It has been tougher than I expected in terms of the rugby," he admitted. "It is an awesome city and the guys have been great but transitioning from Edinburgh to a team that plays a different style has been challenging. It was a good decision to go to Bath as it is a place that I can develop my game and be challenged in different ways. It has taken me a couple of months to get used to that but I am getting into my stride now and feeling more comfortable.

“The big area they want me to focus on is my link play. I have always had an ability to go forward and get the team moving forward but they want me to link with the backs a lot more. There are always multiple options at Bath which require my skill set to be higher than when I got there. I have developed massively in that area."

It is almost a case of Denton being able to relax now that he is back in the Scotland camp. After nearly six months together, preparing for the World Cup and then playing in the tournament, he is back in an environment where he feels comfortable – with extra skills and knowledge to contribute more to the team effort.

"We have not changed an awful lot," he pointed out. "It was like being hit from all angles at Bath, learning a new playbook, it is nice to come back to what I am used to. We are trying to harness the good things we put together in the World Cup when we had some extended time together.

"We have to grow from where we were and learn from the mistakes we made during the World Cup and stay that tight group we created which was part of the reason we were successful. That has been three or four years in the making and I am hoping we are seeing the fruits of that.

"It is an exciting time for this team. The key thing to remember is how difficult it is to get into this position where you have evidence and confidence that you are doing well on the field. It is not just get given to you. That was hammered into us when we came in – not to get complacent."

Apart from the improvements in his own game, Denton is seeing the elements of a good team starting to come together. The front five are good enough to give Scotland a platform, there are exciting backs who have proved they can score tries and in his own unit in the back row there is so much competition that nobody can be sure of their place.

Tries, however, do remain an issue. Not for the team, but personally. He hopes his 33rd cap a day after his 26th birthday could break his duck: "I do score tries but they don’t tend to be for Scotland. I don’t know why," he said. "It was not something that bothered me, but the boys wind me up about it – a lot. I’m going to have to get on the scoresheet just to shut them up."

Typically, John Hardie, who arrived from New Zealand just before the World Cup and got on the scoresheet against both Japan and Samoa, has been one of those leading the banter, but Denton is not really all that worried. "He has been a great addition to the squad, he is a great guy and an incredibly hard player. He puts in some big hits and that is the kind of thing that can bring a team together," he said.