SCOTLAND coach Vern Cotter has warned that his team need to keep improving to give themselves a chance of getting the Six Nations Championship off to a winning start.

Cotter was delighted with parts of Scotland’s 43-16 win over Georgia at Rugby Park on Saturday, particularly the first half in which they scored four tries before adding two more after the break. Glasgow’s Stuart Hogg scored two, his Warriors team-mate Tommy Seymour got another, and the others came from Hamish Watson, Sean Maitland and a penalty try. Captain Greig Laidlaw added five conversions and a penalty to round off the team’s Autumn Test series on a high after their previous win over Argentina and narrow defeat by Australia.

Cotter was especially pleased with Hogg’s display, and said he was sure that the team were getting better all round. But he insisted that there was no time to be happy with what had been achieved so far, and that the hard work had to continue so as to be ready for the visit of Ireland, Scotland’s opponents on the first weekend of the Championship in February.

“He’s one of the most exciting players,” Cotter said of Hogg. “What I like about Stuart is the variation he brings to the game. The kick he put in behind shows he can also identify opportunities.

“Rather than just running he’s adding more strings to his blow. He also has people around him like Tommy Seymour and Sean Maitland and Tim Visser and those guys who feed off each other.”

Cotter is aware that Scotland are not improving on their own, and that other teams are also getting better. That is the case with Ireland in particular, who beat New Zealand recently for the first time in their history.

“We have to improve,” the coach continued. “Australia put real heat on us and Argentina really put heat on us. That’s a compliment, as they see we’re a good attacking team and they try to break us down and slow it up and dominate the attack.

“We’ve had to work extra hard. Richie Gray [the breakdown coach] has been helping us with that and he’s doing a great job. We have to focus on that.

“Ireland have been focusing on that for a number of years and you saw that against the All Blacks. That’s something we have to improve, and it’s one of our focus points

“There are things from this game that will help us in the Six Nations as well. It was not all perfect. They had a strong scrum and a couple didn’t go well for us, but all the guys fought well.

“There are some positive things, but also things we have to build on and improve.

We need to improve knowing what Ireland have done recently as that game will be huge to us.”

Cotter knows that too often in the past Scotland have flattered to deceive in the Autumn Tests, and he warned that there is no room for complacency. “The catchphrase in Scotland is a good autumn and then a poor Six Nations. We want to show we’re progressing and we’ll analyse these performances.

“The players know Ireland and how they play. They’re a humble bunch and that’s one of the qualities I enjoy from this bunch. They know Ireland is a top team - but we can improve.”