Scotland boss Townsend boosted by return of Watson and Fagerson

The Scots beat England in the first game, before seeing their title hopes dashed with back-to-back defeats against Wales and France.

“The tournament has not gone as we hoped or planned so far, that’s for sure,” he said. “We’ve suffered two defeats which are disappointing.

“We know in both those games we could have played better, specifically in the last game against France when there were some moments that could have changed the flow of the game if we’d made the most of them and not allowed France to make the most of their opportunities.

“That was frustrating. But we have two games, two big tests away from home, and the players are all set on working to deliver their best performance.

“We feel if we get our performance right, we’re a match for any team in the world. We know that going away against a full crowd is going to be another test of who we are and that’s what we aim to show this weekend.”

Scotland have a good record in Italy, but Gala man Townsend wants to see a strong start this weekend.

“We need to put our own game in place and be accurate and disciplined with that,” he said. “We also need to not give any easy ways for Italy to get into the game. We know they’ll play with a lot of passion and aggression.

“The last two occasions when we played in Florence and in Rome, they were the better team in the first half hour of the game. We managed to come back and win both games but we can’t let that happen this time. We’ve got to make sure we win moments at the beginning and the end of the game.”

Hamish Watson and Matt Fagerson return to the team after missing the defeat by France through illness and injury respectively.

“Hamish and Matt played really well down in Wales and both of them played really well against England so it’s a boost to have those two back in our squad,” he said.

The Scots round off the tournament against Ireland in Dublin next weekend.