Mirco Bergamasco added three points with the boot, while Kris Burton slotted the conversion and a late drop goal to hand coach Jacques Brunel his first win since taking over from Nick Mallett.

And with their most capped hooker of all time, Fabio Ongaro, retiring from international rugby after the game, Venditti insisted it was the older heads who had been key in Rome.

He said: “It was a great emotion to score but I would like to extend a few words to my more experienced team-mates, they are an example to all of us and they are greats.

“Also a big salute to Ongaro, even today he was crucial. You don’t see how much these guys work behind the scenes: They are simply fantastic.”

If Venditti’s try was decisive at the Stadio Olimpico, Italy were made to sweat when flanker Alessandro Zanni paid the price for a series of infringements from the home side as he was sin binned.

And Zanni admits the side still need to work on their game management having struggled to take advantage of being a man up when Nick De Luca and then Jim Hamilton were in the bin for the Scots.

He added: “When we found ourselves a man up and we were committing dangerous errors, it was a mental problem – I don’t know how else to explain it. But at the end it was the right result.”