Williams suffered his fourth successive defeat since replacing Ian McGeechan as RBS 6 Nations leaders France maintained their 100% record in the competition with a comfortable 31-0 win at Murrayfield.

Unless the Scots can register a shock victory in Dublin next Saturday, it means Williams first 'trophy will be the unwanted wooden spoon.

Many of the Scottish problems have been put down to the loss of so many experienced players at the end of the last World Cup four months ago.

Bryan Redpath, Gregor Townsend and Kenny Logan all called time on their international careers - and Williams has come under fire for not doing more to persuade the trio to stay on.

But while the Australian is determined to end the current losing sequence, he does not believe retaining a clutch of 30-year-olds would provide any benefit to his long-term plans.

We are having a frustrating time at the moment, and I am certainly sick of losing, he said.

But while we are trying to win every fixture, we also have to look further forward to the next World Cup.

If those players had continued their international careers they would probably have retired in a couple of years anyway, and that wouldnt have given us enough time to work with the guys coming in.

You have to give these young lads time to improve. They are gaining experience just now but they need 12 to 15 caps before you could say they have reasonable international experience.

There is no short-term solution to this problem - we have to build for the future.