Huw Jones underlined the need for Scotland to find a clinical edge when they face Ireland in a do-or-die Rugby World Cup tussle in Paris.
The Scots last won the fixture in 2017 and have since suffered eight consecutive defeats.
As for Ireland, a 16-game winning run propelled them into the world No. 1 spot and to the brink of the knockout stages.
"Whenever we look back at those games, there’s so many opportunities we haven’t taken,” Jones said.
“You can’t ever have a perfect game but something we’ve been striving for is being more consistent and putting together an 80-minute performance, staying alive in every moment and really staying focused.
"There have been a few games where just a five- or 10-minute loss of focus has cost us the game. We know we can’t have that, but if we also know that if we have focus for 80 minutes, stay in every second of it and take our chances when they arise, that we can beat top teams.
READ MORE: Lowe insists Ireland are far from ‘invincible’ ahead of Scotland clash
“We know we have the quality, we know we have the game plan. We can win, we just have to go out and do it.”
Jones is one of just four starters from the 2017 victory who will line up in the starting XV again this evening, along with Finn Russell, Zander Fagerson and Richie Gray.
But the centre believes there are lessons to be learned from the 27-22 victory six years ago.
“That is one of those games where we put together a performance,” said the 29-year-old.
“What sticks out is we took our chances in a close game when they were available and finished up on the right side of the scoreline.
“That is clearly what we need to do and what we have done over the past few years when we have had good wins against top opposition. You just have to be clinical.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here