Ex-Falkirk ace Finn Russell: Scotland need 'to be a lot better' to make mark in Six Nations

The fly-half, who is one of Gregor Townsend’s co-captains, helped the Scots get off to a 31-19 winning start on Saturday afternoon at Murrayfield – but there were some nervy moments.

And that included an Azzurri comeback, which was aided by Bath ace Russell when his pass on halfway was easily intercepted by Juan Ignacio Brex, who then had a free run for the try.

“It was good to battle at the end for the win but we'll need to be a lot better if we want to do anything in this tournament,” explained Russell.

“For me personally my mistake was frustrating. The mistakes, the looseness we had, were probably individual (errors) which will be easier to fix. We'll come back Monday or Tuesday and sort a few things out.

“Huw was outstanding today. I thought Stafford (McDowall) was really good at 12 as well. The backs worked really well together, created a lot of chances and if we're going to do anything in this tournament we have to try and finish those off.

"There were probably four of five tries we left out there.”

On the day, Huw Jones helped himself to a hat-trick as Scotland run in five tries to secure a bonus-point victory. Rory Darge and Ben White also scored tries with Russell notching three conversions.

And that result sees Scotland sit second behind France ahead of this Sunday’s home clash with Ireland – who are looking to seal a third Six Nations title on the spin.

“That was a real test,” said head coach Gregor Townsend. “Italy will be a serious opposition for every team in the championship. To be leading for most of the game and then go to 19-all and come through it – that’s going to prepare us really well for the tests to come.

“There are going to be times when opposition get momentum, opposition get scores, like today, and it didn’t affect the players’ belief in what they needed to do to get the win.

“Teams are going to get moments where they’re in control or scoring points and they’re a good team, Italy, and they did put pressure on our line in the last ten minutes and I was really pleased with how the team defended and made sure they didn’t score any more points.”