(Reuters) - Scotland will take a sober approach to Saturday's Six Nations clash against England after paying the price for believing the hype surrounding them at the start of the competition, front rower Gordon Reid said on Tuesday.
Scotland beat Australia and came close to doing the same against world champions New Zealand in the November internationals, and were tipped by many to overcome injury-ravaged Wales away in their Six Nations opener.
"Against Wales everybody hyped us up - 'Scotland are going to win, Scotland are going to win' - and we obviously believed that. We believed we could just go and win, just needed to show up," said Reid of the match in Cardiff where Scotland were always second best and lost 34-7.
"The French game we knew we needed to put it right. There were a lot of positives but a lot of stuff we need to work on," he said of their second match, a 32-26 victory at Murrayfield just under a fortnight ago.
Now, he said, a clear head was needed if Scotland were to beat England for the first time in 10 years in Saturday's Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield, having suffered a record 61-21 hammering at Twickenham last year.
"Last year we let our emotions get to us a little bit too much," the 30-year-old told reporters.
"...So it's a huge thing for us to keep level-minded and keep our heads strong going into the game and thinking positively.
"England are definitely coming into this game as the big dogs. And so be it... With their clubs, they have a huge pool to pick some great talent from," he added.
England won their opening two matches of this year's competition, against Italy and Wales.
Scotland's last win over England was at Murrayfield in 2008 when they edged the auld enemy 15-9.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; editing by John Stonestreet)
