Paterson says Scots can't keep missing chances

Scotland skipper Chris Paterson admits his side cannot afford a repeat of their missed chances against England if they are to beat the Italians in Rome at the weekend.

The Scots travel to Italy after two defeats against Wales and England for a game which many think will decide the destination of this season’s RBS 6 Nations Championships’ wooden spoon.

Paterson claimed squandered opportunities cost the Scots dearly when they went down 35-13 to the English at Murrayfield and the Edinburgh player stressed that is the area Scotland will have to improve upon against a team whom he insists will be as difficult to beat as Clive Woodward’s men.

He said: “We set standards against England, especially in defence, that have to be maintained. We were intense, we were courageous and I’ve no doubts that we will be again against Italy.

“But the one thing that sticks out from the England game is that we never took our chances.

“We broke the line against them more than a lot of teams have done in the last 12 months but we didn’t capitalise by scoring tries.

“We had one or two opportunities in the first half when we should have scored tries and in the second half we had a lot of scrum and line-out inside their half that amounted to nothing. So turning our pressure into points is the main thing.

“But it’s going to be difficult. Italy can cause more problems than England caused. They’re at home, they’re tremendously physical and they will be a very difficult team to control and play against.”

Under new coach Matt Williams, the Scottish Rugby Union are slowly rebuilding the game in Scotland from the grass roots up but Paterson insists the national side are not under any undue pressure to deliver quick results.

He said: “We’ve always said how difficult it was going to be from the word go, before we even played Wales.

“We were disappointed in our performance against them and we said that afterwards and we were happier with our performance against England.

“We really wanted to win against them but ultimately it was our mistakes that led to our defeat.

“So we must go in with a clear game plan and try and put right the things we did wrong against England.

“But this week is just a continuation of our processes and improvement.

“We need to go with a mentality that we’re desperate to win but we must improve in the larger picture and we said that away back.

“But we also understand that away from home it’s going to be very difficult.”