Aaron Wainwright will join Leicester Tigers from Dragons next season [Getty Images]<\/p>\n
Wales forward Aaron Wainwright says next weekend’s Six Nations game against Scotland is a chance for Steve Tandy’s side to “deliver something better”.<\/p>\n
The Scots will arrive in Cardiff on the back of a sparkling 31-20 victory over England<\/a> while Wales have lost 13 successive matches in the tournament since 2023.<\/p>\n After losing 48-7 to England<\/a> on the opening weekend, the beleaguered Welsh side were swept away 54-12 by France<\/a> on Sunday – though the Wales camp felt they delivered an improved performance.<\/p>\n “It’s obviously tough, first two games of the championship, tough scorelines,” said number eight Wainwright.<\/p>\n “We spoke after the game just about the bigger picture and the journey that we’re going on as a team and just to try and concentrate on that, take the learnings from each game.<\/p>\n “Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, later down the line, we can look back on these results and performances and think how far we’ve come.”<\/p>\n Wales cling to optimism despite another record loss<\/a>Scots must replicate Calcutta Cup mentality in Wales – Darge<\/a><\/p>\n Wainwright won the first of his 64 Wales caps in 2018 and was part of the 2019 Grand Slam-winning squad.<\/p>\n However, the 29-year-old Dragons back-rower has also endured a miserable three years with Wales since his second World Cup campaign in 2023, with just two victories over Japan to show for the past 25 Tests.<\/p>\n Wales have conceded 50 points on more than five occasions in less than a year at the Principality Stadium – with Argentina, South Africa, England and now France all racking up record wins in Cardiff.<\/p>\n Their opening two games of the current campaign have also seen them ship 102 points, the worst defensive display of any Six Nations side in a quarter of a century.<\/p>\n “You don’t get better by not playing the best teams in the world,” added Wainwright.<\/p>\n “England were on a massive win streak, France one of the best teams in the world.”<\/p>\n Despite conceding eight tries against the defending champions, Wainwright insisted there were improvements against the French.<\/p>\n “I think we were quite tight in defence at times, a couple of times they were going passes off 10 or off nine quite wide and they were getting around us, so I think we just weren’t fanning out enough in [defence],” he said.<\/p>\n “I think they caught us there and once they get that, being able to go into their offloading there, it’s quite hard to get it back under control… that’s when they come into their own, so it was tough to deal with.<\/p>\n “So obviously looking forward to taking those learnings into next week.”<\/p>\n Scotland themselves came in for considerable criticism for a lacklustre performance in their opening defeat by Italy<\/a> in Rome.<\/p>\n However, they responded in style to sweep aside England with what head coach Gregor Townsend described as “some of the best rugby we’ve ever played”.<\/p>\n Wales will also tackle the Scots with the disadvantage of a one-day shorter turnaround.<\/p>\n “Yeah, I suppose you could look at it like that,” accepted Wainwright speaking after Sunday’s defeat.<\/p>\n “We spoke in the changing room afterwards, just what a great chance it’s going to be for us to come out here next week and deliver something better, like I just said, by going on a journey, <\/p>\n “If we can look to the future, look to next week and start to put those building blocks in place, the bigger picture will take care of itself.”<\/p>\n Six Nations fixtures, results, standings and how to follow on the BBC<\/a><\/p>\n