JOHN BEATTIE says Scotland are capable of bouncing back from their Calcutta Cup defeat to England by beating Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday.

The Welsh were eye-catching in their 23-21 win over Ireland in Dublin, but that has not dented the former Scotland No.8's confidence that Andy Robinson's men can earn a famous victory in Cardiff.

Beattie also believes that, despite the familiar handling errors and poor decision-making which punctuated their defeat to an inexperienced English side, the Scots have the firepower to reignite their RBS Six Nations hopes this weekend.

He explained: "I was impressed by Wales in Ireland but they are beatable for Scotland. I do like the way they bash it up the middle and then go wide and they are a big physical side, but we have the quality to beat them.

"There is also the chance that they could be a little bit over- confident after their win against the Irish and there is no doubt that Scotland will go to Cardiff as big underdogs. But I don't think there is any need to panic.

"Scotland were clearly the better side against the English but we just couldn't get the try we deserved. We dominated possession where we had two thirds of the ball and in every sense we were the better side, with their try only coming from an error from Dan Parks.

"So we must focus on the fact that the margin between that loss, and the victory we should have recorded, was very thin indeed. I think we can bounce back on Sunday against the Welsh."

There were some big positives to come out of the gloom of another Murrayfield defeat and none more so than a colossal performance from Edinburgh No.8 Dave Denton.

And Beattie reckons the introduction of another young gun – Glasgow's Stuart Hogg – against Wales would stand Scotland in very good stead.

Hogg scored a sensational try in Scotland A's 35-0 thrashing of the England Saxons on Friday and Beattie would like to see him installed at full-back for the trip to the Valleys.

He said: "Young Hogg has pace and can beat a man and if Andy Robinson switched Rory Lamont onto a wing with Sean Lamont on the other and Max Evans into 13, then I think that is a pretty potent back line for Cardiff.

"Lets face it, at a time when we are struggling to score tries, Hogg knows where the whitewash is."

One place Beattie does not want to see any changes, though, is on the sidelines, despite Scotland kicking off another RBS Six Nations campaign with another hard luck story.

Beattie remains convinced that coach Andy Robinson is the only man to take the national team forward.

He added: "The success rate under Andy is 50%, when the average for Scotland coaches of late is down about 35%.

"Although we have not had the results we would have wanted in the Six Nations, we have claimed a Test Series win in Argentina which was our first ever in the Southern Hemisphere.

"We have also beaten South Africa at Murrayfield when they were world champions and beaten Australia.

"I think we are very close to getting it right and the point is that sooner or later when we make these line breaks and our boys are getting in the right position, we will make the right call and go over.

"Hopefully the frustration of not doing that against England can be the spur to victory in Wales we need."