Scotland's Josh Bayliss explains what made his Six Nations so special

Only one of Josh Bayliss’ previous 14 caps before the start of this year’s Six Nations had been in rugby’s oldest championship – against Ireland in 2022. The rest had been handed out in summer and November internationals, when, traditionally, coaches experiment with their squad selection.

So while 46 minutes of game time against Wales and 26 against France – his first Six Nations fixture at Murrayfield – might not sound a lot, Bayliss still doubled his tally of Six Nations matches and was delighted to be as involved in Scotland’s campaign as much as he was.

“Loved it. It is probably the first Six Nations camp that I ended up being in camp the whole time. So I really enjoyed properly getting stuck in, having a good run of it,” he said.

“The Six Nations, any year, is a pretty special tournament to be a part of, it’s the one I remember watching as a kid the most.

“Any involvement in an international jersey, in a Bath jersey, is welcomed.

“Look, in an ideal world you play in all the games but thats just not how rugby goes, the squad is so competitive and the boys have played outstandingly well, so you are not always going to get the nod.”

While some forwards might not welcome the back-and-forth, thrust and counter-thrust rugby being played at present, back-rower Bayliss is the archetypal, modern-day athelete, who loves to have a run out wide.

“I think this year some of the games were really entertaining, end to end, lots of tries,” he said.

“I think it is probably more a reflection of how rugby is being played at the moment; it is exciting, lots of attacking threats, and defence becomes pretty hard.

“Teams that can contain people’s attack are the ones that are going to be really successful in the coming years.”

Scotland finished third behind France and Ireland, having recovered from their 18-15 round one loss to Italy, with wins against England, Wales, and notably France, before missing out in Dublin.

“If you listened to all the outside noise after that first game, we were down and out,” he said.

“But within the squad I think there’s been a real belief for the last few years now that we are building towards something.

“I think we showed that in parts, I don’t think we had a full 80-minute performance.

“The French game was probably the closest we got, but we let them back in, in the last 20, and the Ireland game, we got within a converted try with 10 minutes or so to go, but then unfortunately fell a bit short.

“But it was an incredible experience, a great Six Nations to be involved in. I was so proud of the boys but I am also really excited to get back stuck in here and be home and really push for something in the rest of the season.

Bath go in search of their first league double over Saracens in 22 seasons tonight, having won 36-29 at the StoneX in November.

“We had a really tough game away against them earlier in the season. It was quick, they played a lot of attacking rugby. We know the threats that they pose all around the field.”