Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg believes they are on the verge of an "incredibly special" achievement and insists they are right to talk up their Guinness Six Nations chances.
The Scots have not won the tournament since Italy, their opponents on Saturday, joined in 2000, a year after Gregor Townsend helped Scotland to glory in the Five Nations.
Townsend is now in charge of a team who have made strides by winning three games in each of the past two years β having only won three in total in the previous three years combined.
And Hogg is adamant that they can make further progress.
Guinness Six Nations start this week! ππ Which Stuart Hogg are you feeling? π€ #AsOne pic.twitter.com/H56BOXUugY
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) January 28, 2019
"I think we are on the right path to achieve something incredibly special," the Glasgow player said.
"We have been working really, really hard over the last few years to get to where we are and we truly believe we can win the Six Nations.
"But for us as players we are just looking at the first game against Italy on Saturday and making sure we get off to the best possible start. They are a fantastic rugby team who will come to BT Murrayfield and really make it difficult for us.
"Attack-wise we have got to make the most of every opportunity and defence-wise shut them down at the earliest possible stage.
"Look, everybody is excited. We know there is a lot of hard work to be done
still but we are ready to rock and roll."
Hogg has twice won Six Nations player of the tournament and there has been success for Scottish clubs in Europe this season with both Glasgow and Edinburgh reaching the last eight of the Heineken Champions Cup, and he feels justified in expressing such lofty ambitions.
The 26-year-old said: "If you are not saying you are going to win the Six Nations, then what's the point of being here?
"We truly believe we can do it. We are excited about the challenges that are coming our way. We have huge opportunities with three games at BT Murrayfield. Every single game we are going into looking to win.
π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ @Scotlandteam will have the home crowd advantage when they host Italy opening their 2019 #GuinnessSixNations campaign! Get the 2019 fixtures π https://t.co/ecxpnOmtvo pic.twitter.com/I7vdNjnCOS — Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) January 27, 2019
"If I was to sit here and say we are not going to win the Six Nations, that would be wrong."
It is an approach that has been encouraged by Townsend and his management team.
Assistant coach Matt Taylor said: "We have talked about it just about every day in training. We have talked about we want to be the first Scottish team to win the Six Nations title.
"It starts Saturday, we have two home games, and I think that's a really good start to a tournament, isn't it?Β We have talked about it and that's our aim."
Scotland earlier called three players into their squad.
πΈ | New boys settling in well to @Scotlandteam camp! π€ #AsOne pic.twitter.com/7Iv9MOA24x — Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) January 28, 2019
Rory Hughes has been called up after fellow Glasgow winger Lee Jones suffered a knee injury in his team's 9-3 win over Ospreys on Friday.
Edinburgh scrum-half Henry Pyrgos joined the camp as George Horne is struggling with a shoulder problem.
And uncapped Warriors centre Stafford McDowall has been called up as his team-mates Matt Smith, Alex Dunbar and Rob Harley return to Scotstoun after being drafted in last week.
Townsend received a boost after Glasgow front-row forwards Zander Fagerson and Fraser Brown took part in training on Monday morning. Fagerson has not played suffering a fractured ankle in mid-September while hooker Brown was ruled out for eight to 10 weeks with a knee injury in mid-December.
