SCOTLAND winger Tommy Seymour has insisted that the team’s poor record at the Stade de France can motivate, not intimidate, them in Sunday’s Six Nations Championship match.

The Scots have not won at the French national stadium this century, and have only ever been victorious there once - on their first visit back in 1999, when Glasgow Warriors coach Gregor Townsend scored one of the team’s five tries. But, after beating Ireland in last week’s opening match of the tournament, Vern Cotter’s side will travel to France full of confidence, according to Seymour.

“I use it as motivation and look at the fact that we haven’t won there since 1999 as an opportunity,” the Glasgow back said. “It’s actually exciting for us rather than something we have to overcome. “Ireland used their record against New Zealand as a positive” - the Irish beat the All Blacks for the first time ever last year - “so it’s an exciting possibility for everyone in this squad to go out and do something which hasn’t been done in a long period of time.

“We’ve had some very hard-fought losses recently over there, so before last year’s Six Nations when we played them at home we wanted to claim a win over them because of how close the previous fixtures had been. We’ve played very well in Paris in recent years and had very close games with them, but they’re a different side than what we’ve faced in some of the previous years and they look incredibly strong.

“They’re one of the strongest sides in the Six Nations, certainly in an attacking sense, because they’ve got threats all over the park. They play from absolutely everywhere and their elusiveness is especially devastating, so we’ll have to be on top form. But we’ve got confidence against France certainly, although when it comes to playing at their stadium it’s a big motivator for them.”

As he was only 10 when Scotland last won in Paris, Seymour pointed out that the current crop of players could hardly take direct lessons from that match, which led to the Scots becoming the last ever Five Nations champions. But he is sure that it can still be used as a useful reminder of how well Scottish teams can play.

“Obviously, inspiration can be taken. You want to remember the good times. You want to remember the times that your nation has done something they should be proud of - but it’s a completely different group of players.

“There is such a gap. It's not the case even of three or four years ago where there are slight things you can look at. We can’t review the ‘99 game and say ‘What did they do here, and how did it work?’

“But you want to look at those occasions. More for us it’s a nice motivator, because they went out and did something that's incredibly hard to do. You look at what they were able to achieve, what they got out of it, how they inspired a nation - and wouldn't it be great if we could replicate that?

“We will remember it. But we’re not going to get too wrapped up in it.”