Greig Laidlaw tells Scotland attack to deal out Six Nations 'hurt'

Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw believes his side's increasingly potent attack can hurt their rivals during the upcoming Six Nations.

The Scots, who face Ireland at home in their Six Nations opener on February 4, have been notoriously slow starters in Europe's leading international tournament in recent years.

But last season they won twice in the showpiece while the November internationals saw them nearly defeat Australia before losing 23-22.

Last week Scottish rugby received a huge shot in the arm when Glasgow won 43-0 away to two-time champions Leicester as they secured a place in the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup.

Now Laidlaw wants Scotland's talented backs to take their club form into the international arena in what will be coach Vern Cotter's final Six Nations in charge.

"This is definitely the best Scotland squad I've been a part of, that's quite an easy question actually for me to answer," said Laidlaw at the Six Nations launch in London on Wednesday.

"But we're not getting ahead of ourselves because we've not won any games in the tournament yet.

"We certainly scored a lot of tries in November, we can hurt teams on that front."

Laidlaw, a scrum-half with English Premiership side Gloucester, added he looked forward to resuming his Test half-back partnership with Finn Russell.

"The make-up of the players we have through the team, myself, somebody like Finn Russell, he's a wonderful player, he spent some time in New Zealand, which I think you can see has really helped.

"Huw Jones came in in November and played extremely well, there's Stuart Hogg at the back and Sean Maitland doing very well at Saracens too.

"You need to score tries to win games. If you go in and try to defend your way to victory then it just won't work."

Cotter, who will leave for French club Montpellier, acknowledged Glasgow's stunning win over Leicester but warned against reading too much into the result going into the Ireland clash.

"We're very conscious only two weeks ago (Irish province) Munster went to Glasgow and beat them so there's confidence but a dose of realism as well," said Cotter.

"This is going to be tough. Just because there have been a few good performances it doesn't mean the opposition are going to give you games," added the New Zealander.