Former Scotland goal kicker Chris Paterson has warned the current crop of players that their penalty count must be reduced if they are to defeat Wales on Sunday.

Two years ago when the Welsh were last in Edinburgh for an RBS 6 Nations encounter Scotland conceded 16 penalties overall and Leigh Halfpenny kicked seven of them to help guide the visitors to a 28-18 victory.

Scotland gave away 12 penalties against France in Saturday's opening match of this year's championship as they were edged out 15-8 in the Stade de France.

As a result Paterson, who won 109 caps for Scotland between 1999 and 2011, believes discipline is key if Scotland are to get a home win at BT Murrayfield.

"When the opposition have a kicker of the quality of Halfpenny you simply cannot afford to give him too many chances to kick for territory or for goal. He will punish you as he did to Scotland two years ago and I am sure [head coach] Vern Cotter and the boys will be working hard this week on cutting out ill-discipline," he stated.

"In international matches they are often won or lost by fine margins, as we saw at the weekend, and if Scotland can concede fewer penalties than the opposition it would be a huge boost."

Paterson's caution regarding the penalty count does not cloud his overall enthusiasm for the way that Scotland are playing at the moment though.

Speaking at the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow where youngsters were testing out their skills yesterday, Paterson was animated as he talked up the potential of young talent such as Finn Russell, Alex Dunbar, Mark Bennett and Stuart Hogg while he has been impressed by the way in which Blair Cowan has slotted into the back-row.

The 36-year-old said: "Overall, I came away from the Stade de France at the weekend with a lot of positive thoughts in my mind. Obviously, the end result was a disappointment, but I don't think some people realise just how hard it is to go away to a place like France and get a victory.

"On the positive side we looked dangerous in attack and created a number of opportunities. The newer players and the younger players in the team also don't seem to panic and they are working well as a group right now.

"France seemed to have more territory and possession in the second half and that took its toll and started to take the match away from Scotland a bit.

"However, going into the Wales game I think the team will have enjoyed a quiet start to the week to get over all of their bumps and bruises and will really start analysing where things went right and wrong in Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday."

As a Scottish Rugby ambassador Paterson can often be found in the corridors of BT Murrayfield these days and as a result he has had a few dealings with Cotter - and has been impressed by what he has found.

"I am hugely impressed by him, I really am. His demeanour, his calmness and the fact that he does not panic or make rash decisions means that the players feel comfortable under his guidance.

"I think it was great that he had the summer tour last year to spend a lot of time getting to know the individual players and their characters and he seems to have created a group that really want to play for him and for the jersey.

"An example of this was the way Rob Harley tackled himself to a standstill against France," Paterson concluded.