Wins over England, Ireland and Italy saw the Scots claim third place in the final standings and Paxton has two development games, against Sale and Newcastle, to fine-tune his preparations for the tournament opener against France at Falkirk.

Paxton told Scottish Rugby's official website, www.scottishrugby.org: If we maintain or make a nudge forward on last years effort when we finished third overall, then we will be very pleased with our progress.

''The teams we play are always going to be competitive but to open against France in Falkirk is probably the best start we could ask for.

Weve selected pretty much a full strength side (to face Sale) so thats a great start. Alan MacDonald, David Young, John Beattie and John Barclay are not available due to pro-team commitments but that gives other players a chance to put their names forward.

Its difficult to gauge what Sale will be like but the big emphasis for us is to get as many players from our Six Nations squad together as we can and get them used to playing with each other before the competition starts, he added.