Gregor Townsend said the lack of celebrations after his team beat England to retain the Calcutta Cup for the fourth consecutive year shows a change in mindset from the Scotland squad.
Whereas in years gone by, victories over England have been celebrated wildly by fans and players alike, there was a muted feel post-match at Scottish Gas Murrayfield after Finn Russell and Rory Darge had lifted the trophy.
Most of the adulation went to Dr James Robson, who oversaw his last match at Murrayfield after 30 years as Scotland’s team doctor.
Townsend said the celebrations reflect a disappointment in the overall performance.
"Where we are now, we celebrate the victory and it’s brilliant to do that at home with the supporters and that atmosphere we had.
“I think the players know that the start wasn’t as accurate as we’d like and there were times in the second half when we did miss opportunities.
“You have to take the context of defending a lead too. But maybe the message is to attack a lead if we have that same situation in the next two games.”
He praised the team’s mental resilience to come back from 10-0 down early on to take control of the game.
“I hope I’m not being too critical of the boys - To score 30 points against England is a huge achievement and to do it after trailing on the scoreboard I think shows where the group is mentally.
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“We spent a lot of work on it and a lot of that is driven by the players being open and honest about what we needed to work on after the World Cup.”
Townsend was also pleased with how his side coped against the same blitz defence that had caught them out when they faced South Africa at the World Cup in Marseille.
“I think that [South Africa game] was good preparation for this one.
“There were errors when we weren’t settled into that but it’s a defence that will give you space somewhere and we took that."
Townsend said he will not be making wholesale changes for the trip to the Stadio Olimpico, a position that will only have been reinforced by the Azzurri holding 14-man France to a 13-all draw in Lille on Sunday afternoon.
He said: “Italy are one of the strongest teams in the competition, especially at home. Last year they could have beaten any team and we know that we came very close to losing to them.
“In Rome, usually the weather is good and it’s an open game with attacking rugby which is the rugby we want to play.
“We’ve got to go and work on what needs to be worked on and build on our strengths.”
Sione Tuipulotu is a doubt for that match after limping off early in the second half with a knee injury.
Townsend said: "It wasn’t an injury that took him off straight away so that could be a positive. But it’s definitely a knee injury and he wasn’t able to run at full capacity in that second half. So we’ll see.”
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