Vern Cotter says Scotland will learn from having to adapt to losing their best players following their 22-16 Six Nations defeat to France.

Greig Laidlaw, John Barclay and John Hardie were all forced off in Paris as the Dark Blues were unable to build on their opening day victory.

Allan Dell, Fraser Brown and Alex Dunbar were also victims of a bruising encounter but Cotter believes his team will be better for the experience.

He said: "It's an experience that will help us on a positive side to be able to deal with those types of things again.

"And it's a good experience for Finn. He will be the first to have a look at his game and how it was run from there on.

"But we don't want to make excuses. They put us under pressure, they put Finn under pressure. It wasn't perfect, sometimes it isn't."

He added: "But there will be key things to come from it. I thought Ali stepped in well. John Barclay was captain and he went off and Jonny became captain.

"All the guys dipped in well. It wasn't perfect but there was a good team opposite us."