Hadden upbeat despite defeat

Scotland head coach Frank Hadden insisted there were positives to be taken from their 23-20 defeat at Italy.

The Scots fell to an Andrea Marcato last-minute drop goal in Rome having led 17-10 at the interval.

“Not only did we dominate the game but we controlled it,” said Hadden.

“Had we gotten a try or taken advantage of our chances we could have recorded our best win in Italy.

“But sadly it wasn’t to be, the penalty count was frustrating for us.

“But credit to Sergio Parisse, a great player who intercepted the ball that led to the Gonzalo Canale’s try.”

Allister Hogg and Mike Blair scored tries for Scotland, while Marcato was the hero for the hosts, scoring two penalties and two conversions as well as his last minute drop.

“Italy are a very good side,” added Hadden. “This is a tough place to play. It’s never easy for any teams to win in Italy.

“But we are gutted for our supporters. We thought we were very close to giving our fans a memorable win in Italy.

“It’s just our quality and execution of the game in the second half wasn’t that good and Italy were very disciplined.”

Despite just one win in the tournament, against England, Hadden is looking to the future full of optimism.

“We’ve had to work very hard since the World Cup,” he said.

“We’ve had lots of injuries but then I think we have improved over the tournament.

“I have a lot of optimism for this side, we have blooded some young players in the squad and we are not far away from making a serious impact in future competitions.”

Italy coach Nick Mallett gave no significance to his team finishing with the wooden spoon.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” said Mallett, who celebrated his first win with the Azzurri.

“I don’t see the importance of that because this competition is played to win and if not to improve and that’s what we have tried to do.”

Mallett admitted this was not his team’s top performance of the tournament but he was satisfied with the second half display.

“This wasn’t our best game. I think we played our best game against France,” he said.

“But I am extremely happy and emotional because I have seen my players work very hard for this win.

“The second half was very good by my side, I am proud of the discipline shown by my team and Gonzalo Canale’s try as well as how my team played in the last three minutes.”

Mallett nevertheless has drawn positives from the tournament.

“Each year the Six Nations is a challenge for Italy,” he added.

“We didn’t play a good game against Ireland but we lost by five points, we lost to England by four points.

“We did have a disastrous second half against Wales but put up a good showing against France.”