It was a vast improvement on their first game of the tournament after being ‘nilled’ against favourites England and in last year’s tournament in which they finished with the wooden spoon.

The team will now have a week off but De Scossa is wary of the potential for performances to drop.

He said: “The break is ideal but it’s not a break in the sense that we’re resting. It’s a break in the sense that we’re going to work harder and take a step forward.

“Things don’t stop. We’re going to work very hard on developing the next stage of our preparation for the tournament.

“We tried a few things out that we know that we’re going to have to improve as a team if we’re really, truly going to compete on a global stage.

“We started this Six Nations and we’re going to finish it in the same way by looking at it as a stepping stone.

“To be the best you’ve got to play the best but you’ve got to get to a point that you can beat the best.

“We’re conscious that this is a development process and there are players that are going to be taking part in the games against Ireland, France and Italy who have not had so much game time so far.

“I’m very keen on the people coming in to understand that they’re not there to replace a better player, they’re there to take the game to another level. We want to raise the standards all the way through.”