FEWER than half a dozen key moments that Scotland got wrong and England got right; that was all that stood between the home side and a chance to win at the weekend, says Jonathan Humphreys, the forwards coach. Every match means more experience for his side, and every nugget of experience will help bridge that cap, he added.

"International rugby is hugely pressurised, everybody understands that," he said. "International rugby is determined by four or five key moments in every game. It is about understanding when these key moments come and how to react. We have a pretty inexperienced team. We are trying to work through that and make sure we get to where we need to.

"As a team, we were pretty frustrated with some aspects of the game. We looked rusty at times out there. We created opportunities – we got inside their 22 eight times – but the frustrating fact is that we came away with no points and got a little sloppy at crucial times. They are ready to take that next step. The next step is about that big [holding his fingers about a millimetre apart] but it takes a lot to get over it."

Compare and contrast that with Humphreys' assessment of how Wales, who are Scotland's next opponents in Cardiff on Saturday, coped with the pressure of being 13 points down after half an hour of their away game against Ireland. it is the difference between a team trying to develop and one that knows how to handle pressure.

"Wales are a pretty resourceful in terms of coming out of tricky situations, they’ve done it many, many times," he said. "That team has been together an incredibly long time. We are trying to play a bit of catch-up, trying to work on the small details without getting too emotional about the outcome. We are trying to be fixed on the process, that's something we can do.

"You see teams that have been there, done it, squeezed out those moments in a game. We are trying to do that, we are trying to be a team that squeezes out those moments. We are a little frustrated with that. On the other hand we are going forward and improving.

"Wales are a very difficult team to beat, a very physical side, and they are probably trying to play a bit more rugby than they have in the past. It's going to be an incredible atmosphere and it will be incredibly tough, but hopefully we will be prepared for that."

They will need to be. The last time Scotland played down there, they had Stuart Hogg sent off and shipped 51 points – a bitter memory for Humphreys, a former Wales captain, who found the whole experience traumatic. "There's not a lot you can do in that situation. It felt a little bit like the Samoa game [in the recent World Cup]; when they had the ball you just felt they would score. They were throwing the ball everywhere and it was sticking. People were running riot," he said.

"It was one of those games. You hope you don't go through too many in your life. Looking at us now, compared to where we were then, I think we are significantly further down the line. It's difficult to show that when you don't get across those lines in really close games, but as a group we do feel we are improving."

The relentless optimism that Scotland are closing the gap on their rivals, even if they have yet to overtake any, was reflected by Blair Cowan, the flanker, who came on for the final quarter against England but knows his unit will be facing a radically different challenge on Saturday with Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric, a pair of turnover specialists, likely to play.

His recipe for correcting the problems on show against England is simple: "Tighten up what we’re doing and take it from there," he said. "Sometimes eagerness plays a big part, sometimes you can try to be two steps ahead of where you’re at. It definitely felt that was the case a couple of times.

"We put our hands up if we have faults. No-one will ever point fingers at others, no-one needs to because we have that honesty. That’s one of our key things, we’re 100 per cent honest and it’s putting your hand if you were wrong and correct you own mistakes.

"We have our structures in place. The game is constantly evolving and there are always cues you have to pick up on. Sometimes you’re going to be exposed – that’s rugby, you have to be ready to adapt. We know how they attack and how fast we have to be over the ball in our attacking cleans, but we have Richie Gray [the coaching consultant] helping with the breakdown, he’s brought new technical stuff in and already had a big impact on what we’re trying to achieve."