Scotland were on the receiving end of a 76-0 defeat to England in Esher in the first game of their RBS 6 Nations campaign before welcoming Italy, who beat France first time out, to Dundee.

However a Manuela Furlan-inspired Italy maintained their unbeaten start as Veronica Schiavon slotted the sole penalty and Sara Barattin the only try as Scotland fell 8-0.

Scotland host unbeaten opposition in Ireland in Lasswade next with Findlay having to pick her players up after insisting their performance against Italy was far better than that against England.

“The big failing on our part was not capitalising on the pressure we put Italy under and our ball retention in the 22,” said Findlay.

“We put Italy under a sustained period of pressure and we must have had 60 to 70 per-cent of the possession in the game particularly in the attacking zone.

“But we had too many turnovers in their 22 and in international rugby you cannot afford that high level of an error count.

“It was a shame because so many aspects of our performance were significantly better than last week.

“We scrummed really well, our lineout was significantly better, we disrupted in both areas, caused massive problems for their No. 8 who was one of their key players.

“Our back row was a lot, lot better and we had a huge improvement in work rate and in terms of our defence but Italy scored a try completely against the run of play after us being in their 22.

“They ran the whole length of the field and scored and that was it, the only try of the game. It is really, really hard on the players because from a coaching perspective a lot of things were significantly improved on from last weekend.”