Scotland rugby captain Jamie Ritchie reckons better is yet to come from side after best championship start for 24 years

Following up the Scots’ 29-23 opening-day win against England at London’s Twickenham Stadium at the start of the month with a 35-7 thumping of Wales at home at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday takes the team into uncharted territory, the last time they started a championship with successive successes having been back in 1996.

That was prior to the launch of the Six Nations, with Jim Telfer as head coach and Rob Wainwright as captain, and Scotland went on to make it three in a row by following up wins against Ireland and France with another against Wales.

Ritchie isn’t content with overseeing Scotland’s best start to a championship for almost a quarter of a century, including their biggest-ever victory against the Welsh, outdoing 1924’s 35-10 scoreline, however, and wants more from his team next time out, against France away on Sunday, February 26, with kick-off at 4pm.

“We have the belief that if we play to our best, we can beat any team,” said the 26-year-old after the weekend’s win.

“It was not perfect but we did enough to get the job done.

“We’ve got a lot more in us, so we are looking to improve when we go to Paris.

“We have not won anything yet. We have won two games and we are just looking forward to performing well against France.”

The Edinburgh star said he was delighted his side had managed to win the first Doddie Weir Cup since the death of the former Scotland lock it’s named after in November at the age of 52 following a six-year fight against motor neurone disease, especially as his widow Kathy and sons Hamish, Angus and Ben were there to cheer them on.

“It was the first game at Murrayfield without him,” said Ritchie.

“We miss him so much and I’m so glad we’ve got our hands on the trophy.

“We are so delighted I’m a bit emotional. I’m glad I could do this for Kathy and the boys.”

Fellow former Howe player George Horne also featured in Saturday’s success, coming on as a 58th-minute replacement for Ben White.