The Scots were looking for a confident display on Saturday after the late defeat in Paris the previous week and the disappointing loss at Murrayfield to South Africa in November.

But a strong Irish team, orchestrated by Ronan OGara, ran out 40-13 winners at to leave Matt Williams side facing a second successive wooden spoon.

The defeat also saw Scotland slip to 10th in the world rankings but Southall maintains the thought of defeat to the Azzurri at Murrayfield on February 26 is not an option.

The Edinburgh Gunners player told the Edinburgh Evening News: ''We said after playing France that we didnt want to return to Murrayfield for a performance like we gave against South Africa and obviously the scoreline reflects the same sort of outcome.

''It was not good enough and we have got to take a good look at ourselves.

''Italy is a massive game. We are not thinking about not getting a win and the next two weeks will be about getting our bandwagon rolling again.

''Italy are proving a pretty hard side to breakdown but we have got to go out and create a platform and take it on from there.''

But the 24-year-old is adamant that coach Williams should not shoulder the blame for the weekend defeat.

Scotland have won just twice - against Samoa and Japan - during the Australians tenure.

Southwell added: ''We led 8-0 and stopped counter-attacking which was our downfall because running at the Irish rather than going into our shells was the thing to keep doing.

Responsibility for that lies with the players who must put matters right.

We are totally behind Matt. It has nothing to do with him.

''We went out there and did not perform the way we should when what was required was to stand up and be counted.''