Horne is backing a Scottish reaction when French visit

Peter Horne admits the Scots were down after their defeat in Cardiff - but is backing the side to bounce straight back. Pic by Ian Rutherford.

Scotland went into last weekend’s opener with Wales on a high after impressive recent performances, including a 53-24 hammering of Australia in November.

But Gregor Townsend’s side misfired against the Welsh, and fell to a crushing 34-7 defeat in Cardiff.

Former Howe of Fife centre and ex-Bell Baxter pupil Horne’s late try was the only highlight of what was a dire afternoon at the office.

By the time Horne had skipped through the Welsh resistance to put the side on the board the match was already long lost, the consolation merely making the score a little more respectable.

But Horne is backing the nation to bounce straight back at the weekend and show the kind of form which put the Aussies to the sword.

He said: “I think there will be a good reaction from the boys as we were all pretty devastated.

“We’ve got France immediately after it and we are desperate to get another opportunity.

“I’m pretty confident this was just an 80minute slip.

“I can’t see us being that bad again for the rest of the tournament.

“I believe we can beat anyone in the competition, but we’ll be taking it game by game.

“We’ll be looking to beat France this weekend, we will regroup and try to beat England and then Ireland and then Italy. We will try to take it one game at a time.”

Horne started the game on the bench and was a 54th minute replacement for Chris Harris.

He admits he was left scratching his head at the heavy loss.

“We went to Cardiff with a lot of belief,” he said.

“We thought as a squad that we had enough in us to go there and get a result.

“We are gutted just like everyone else and now we need to focus on France and get a reaction.

“The 23 boys who are selected this week will be chomping at the bit. We were pretty beaten up, and are all disappointed by the result, making us desperate to put things right.”