Ian McGeechan's team went into the competition on the crest of a wave after their dramatic 21-6 triumph against South Africa at Murrayfield, their first victory over the Springboks in 33 years.

However, they were brought crashing back to earth with an opening-weekend defeat against Ireland before subsequent heavy losses to France and England.

The two home wins over Wales and Italy ensured Scotland avoided the wooden spoon, and Taylor believes there are still positives to take from the campaign as they start the build-up to the World Cup in Australia in October.

The 23-year-old number eight said: "I think we should look at the South Africa game as a one-off occasion and maybe we would have hoped to build on it a bit more, but things don't always work out that way.

"But I think the team definitely improved - we couldn't get much worse than the Irish game.

"In the French game we weren't fantastic, but it was a wee step up and then if you're winning you've got to say your doing something right.

"It's the worst feeling in the world when you lose by those sorts of margins, but we managed to pull ourselves back a bit again for the Wales game."