Hamilton was again impressive in the second row as Scotland rounded off their Autumn Test series with a 41-0 victory over Canada at Pittodrie.

Flanker Alasdair Strokosch believes Scotland’s strength in depth is now better than ever and Hamilton agrees with his team-mate, believing the team are perfectly placed to mount a real challenge in the RBS 6 Nations early next year.

The Edinburgh forward said: “The changes show the strength in depth that there is when the back row and the back three can be changed and all the players coming in were of a very high calibre. That’s only good for Scottish rugby.

“There are guys who can slot in and the team doesn’t lose anything whatsoever in terms of quality. It’s now about going back to our clubs and playing well because there is a big Six Nations coming up.

“We can’t rest on our laurels. We’ve got to keep moving forward and the only way we can do that is play even better for our clubs and keep pushing each other for places in the national team.

“We said during the World Cup that we wanted to do something special. I think we can do it now.

“Now we’ve got our heads down and we’re working extremely hard in the shirt time we’ve had together to get better and get to the next level.”

Part of Hamilton’s confidence arises from the quality of the work being produced by the pack.

Now under the coaching of former All Black Mike Brewer, Hamilton feels the Scotland eight will keep improving the more they play together.

The former Leicester star said: “We know Mike Brewer well now and he knows us well now.

“We know his codes and his ideas and we know how the defence should work so it’s about bringing everything together in the Six Nations.

“That’s where we need to be firing on all cylinders. The front five is the heart of the team and it has gone quite well. Frank has kept us together going into the Six Nations which I think is a good thing.

“We’ve worked with each other for the past month now and collectively we know what we can do and what we need to work on.

“We’ve got to put pressure on ourselves now. We can’t just play well here and there. We want to start dominating teams.

“As a pack I think we’ve put ourselves in the map and we’ve got to back that up with performances come the Six Nations.

“There’s some confidence there. We’ve shown we’re good in the scrum and line-out but we now need to take that forward and keep the confidence where it is.

“We didn’t score as many tries as we would have liked in the two games against South Africa and New Zealand but we fronted up in those matches and that’s what we’ll take into the Six Nations.”