Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw says being forced to watch a re-run of his team's World Cup exit to Australia has provided him with hope rather than fear ahead of the Six Nations campaign.

Gloucester player Laidlaw reviewed the 35-34 loss to the Wallabies in preparation for facing England at Murrayfield.

Laidlaw, who admitted he remains angry by referee Craig Joubert's display at Twickenham, said the experience of reliving Scotland's display had "excited" him.

He added: "I was able to take the emotion away from it and crikey, we played some good rugby. It gave me a great feeling.

The scrum-half acknowledged the strengths of Vern Cotter's side but concedes there remains plenty of room for improvement.

He said: "We played well but we could have played even better.

"Now it's about building momentum. It's a great squad environment to be in right now and that's been built by the coaches. Those little things go a long way in my opinion."

Scotland face the monumental task of trying to record an opening day win - a decade after they last succeeded in doing so against France in Edinburgh.

Supporters have to look back eight years to find Scotland's last triumph over the Auld Enemy, but Laidlaw is confident that the current crop can be the catalyst for a turn of fortunes.

He said: "Clearly Scotland have underperformed in the tournament in the past but us as a team, this is our time in the jersey. If we can be the team who turned that around, that would be a great legacy for us to leave for the next group."