The last time Scotland played at home, Hamish Watson was talking the talk, but he is hoping that this weekend he will be back in the more familiar routine of rucking the ruck, mauling the maul, tackling everything that moves in a red jersey and generally trying to walk the walk.

The Edinburgh flanker has been a key figure as the national team set about fortifying their home ground over the last two years, an ever present in the five victories that took them unbeaten there through two Six Nations campaigns, prior to that defeat to Ireland last month.

The broken hand suffered as yet another fine win was recorded at Murrayfield in January, when Edinburgh defeated Montpellier to secure top spot in their Champions Cup pool and a home quarter-final, meant he was sidelined for that encounter with the defending champions which, from the analyst’s chair, he reckoned could have seen the run continue to a seventh successive home win in the championship, a week after Scotland had opened up with a win over Italy.

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“I did a bit of commentary for the Ireland game and it was too many errors, really,” he said. “I think we conceded 22 turnovers and I thought that game was there for the taking.

“We played very well in the first half [but] just before the break we didn’t score that try and that was a massive momentum swing. If we’d scored there we would have probably gone on to win because Ireland were a bit on the rack there.

“That was disappointing and from there we just seemed to be chasing the game, made a few too many errors. You make 22 unforced errors in a game and you’re going to struggle to win.”

His assessment of events in Paris a fortnight later, was similar, if a bit more generous.

“France was tough, it was a weird game and they scored a few tries at the end which I thought flattered the scoreline,” he said, contradicting the majority view which was that Scotland were lucky to be just a single score behind at the interval. “I don’t think we deserved to win the game, but again, a lot of errors, set-piece went a bit away from us at the end there as well, the scrum . . . both a bit disappointing but we can bounce back this week.”

By contrast they are preparing to face a Wales team that could have not been more buoyant after the last round of Six Nations matches when a defeat of England kept them on course for a Grand Slam.

However, they must deal this week with domestic turmoil, coach Warren Gatland admitting that news of a potential merger of their two most successful regional teams, the Ospreys and the Scarlets, has been a distraction for his players.

Watson is, however, too experienced to be drawn into hoping that will make things any easier for this week’s home team.

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“I don’t think that’ll affect them at all to be honest,” he said. “If you were in an international camp and you hear that Edinburgh and Glasgow are merging, I wouldn’t care too much about it until you’re back into that.

“They’ve got to concentrate on what they’re concentrating on. They might have a joke with one of their Scarlets mates if they’re an Ospreys player, but until it’s actually set in stone I wouldn’t be too worried about that if I was one of the Welsh boys. They’ve got to focus on the international stuff.”

Wales remain favourites, then, but Watson expects a strong Scottish response.

“There’s pressure from fans, maybe a bit from the media, but we’re the ones who put pressure on ourselves to win,” he said.

“The reason there’s pressure is because we’ve done so well the last couple of years, so it’s a good pressure to have. We’ve got another great opportunity to win a home game and I know we lost against Ireland, but over the last two years we’ve not lost many at home, so we’ve got a proud record there as well.”