How many times over the years have the words ‘glorious failure’ been associated with Scotland? A narrow defeat after a valiant effort that had people feeling proud but ultimately disappointed that it was another one for the loss column.

Interestingly, there’s a feeling of disappointment that Scotland nearly threw away a 27-point lead in Cardiff on Saturday but they finished the game with the points on the board and showing a bit of character to see it out at the end despite being under pressure for much of the second half.

It’s clear things need to improve on that front and the penalty count was unacceptable but that was something historic at the weekend, yet all the talk is about how poor the second half was.

Finn Russell described it as complacent and he is right that the players took their foot off the gas and found it hard to put it back on after conceding and the yellow cards were obviously no help to anyone.

It’s a monkey off their back though and another impressive away win for this group having previously won in Paris and at Twickenham to end lengthy runs. Dublin is the only one still on that list with it being 14 years since Scotland tasted victory on the Emerald Isle.

READ MORE: Huw Jones: Scotland can take pride from Cardiff win

They’ve yet to do so in the Aviva with that match coming in Croke Park when Lansdowne Road was being rebuilt so maybe it’s time to cut Scotland some slack on their second half showing and be rightfully proud and happy that they got the victory they’ve been craving in Cardiff for so long.

As bad as that 35 minutes or so was, the first half was excellent with Scotland playing some brilliant and exciting to watch rugby. Russell was outstanding while Duhan van der Merwe was magnificent again. Sione Tiupulotu was great, Ben White, Luke Crosbie, Pierre Schoeman and Kyle Rowe all performed to a high standard too and it was just fun to watch.

There was always that doubt in the back of everyone’s minds given Scotland’s history there with 2010 in particular bringing up some worrying flashbacks but Gregor Townsend made some key changes at the right time and it saw the team over the line and you have to give them credit for it. It showed some great character.

Even at the end of the game Russell was still a bit annoyed despite the victory and didn’t seem to really enjoy the fact that he was the first Scotland captain in 22 years to taste success in the Welsh capital. It’s natural to be frustrated with how it went when it looked like being one of the most comfortable victories against a tier one nation in a long time at half time.

They deserve to be delighted with the victory though and nobody an take that away from this squad of players. They’ll know themselves it wasn’t good enough in the second half and major improvements are needed but you know what? That shouldn’t matter at this stage. It’s a results business and Scotland got off to the start they wanted in the Six Nations. Arguably the biggest frustration for them will be that they didn’t get a bonus point and that is completely fair but they still left the field of play as the victors and they brought the Doddie Weir Cup back to Edinburgh for another year.

It's all attention onto France now and that is going to be a tough match at Murrayfield but one the squad should be going into with confidence, but they’ll need to be on it for the entire 80 minutes this time.