But the only history to repeat itself here was seeing Scotland give up the game in the first 20 minutes. The issue was that our midfield defence let in some very soft tries early on, something that was particularly criminal.

Things were looking quite reasonable initially, after the dismal performance the previous weekend. But the structure in the midfield suddenly disintegrated.

We were falling off tackles by making the high sort of hits you see sometimes in rugby league rather than thinking the way to stop someone is to stop his legs moving.

But we kept on at it and tried to turn the game around. Its frustrating that we're not able to do that until we're 15 or 20 points behind. At Twickenham, questions could have been asked of the England team because their confidence wasnt high either.

For a while, Scotland were dictating absolutely everything and they were almost running England ragged, but that momentum was lost and the English defence got slightly better organised.

But there were too many lapses in concentration, and we lacked leadership on the field of play. We need a strong leader to read the riot act during stoppages in play - we have shown character but now it needs to be pulled together.

Theres been incredible inconsistency in the last six months - its very frustrating. Its not just about winning matches, Scottish fans expect the team to play with a certain amount of style as well.

However, at the same time you see real elements of improvement, which I think is encouraging.

I thought Chris Paterson had a super game. Hes so quick on his feet, hes always going to beat the first tackle and you often need two men on him.

Nathan Hines added bite to the Scottish performance in the pack, while Gordon Ross brought far more assurance and he certainly was talking and directing operations.
I also want to pay tribute to Grand Slam champions Wales.

I think they played a fabulous style of rugby. Theyve reaped the benefits of continuity but theyve got the players to play that sort of game.

For me, Martyn Williams was the stand-out player in the tournament. Its such a bonus to have flankers who can knit things together.

When you go back to our Five Nations win in 1999, we had those sorts of players.

If only we had them now.