Scotland ‘getting closer’ to world’s best – John Dalziel
“I think we’ve learned a lot from that period, what we’ve learned from the Six Nations. We’ve grown the group and we’ve been developing. We feel like we’re getting closer.
“We have all the components. We just have to find a way to keep ourselves there once we’ve worked 60 minutes and we need to find a way to get over that last hurdle.
“If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. I definitely feel like we’ve got a lead over the last few Tests and we’re confident we can play away or at home against top teams.”
After facing Portugal, Scotland face Australia in the Autumn Nations Series, who defeated England at Twickenham last time out.
Dalziel hopes his side can make it three wins from four this season and says while there will be changes to the squad for the match against Portugal, they will not be complacent against a team ranked 15th in the world. .
“We have to pay Portugal the ultimate respect,” Dalziel said. “They will play their first away game against a Six Nations side at Murrayfield in front of 55,000 spectators.
“Their game can stand up to anyone and we saw that at the World Cup. They lost to Fiji and they were very competitive.
“They should have performed better against Wales and they have a chance to win that game. We will give them full respect.
“I think there will be some fresh looks for players but we will pick a strong Test team to win this weekend. We want to finish with three wins.”
