Scotland will use the defeat to Italy in Rome as motivation when they head to Dublin next weekend, says lock Scott Cummings.  

The Glasgow man conceded the second half performance in Rome was not good enough as the visitors let a half-time lead slip.  

Despite falling behind early, Scotland regained control inside the first quarter and looked comfortable 14-3 ahead. A try from man of the match Juan Ignacio Brex changed that, and Scotland couldn’t stop an Italian side that had all the momentum and the backing of a sold out, 70,000-strong Stadio Olimpico crowd.  

Cummings said: “We’re all gutted. It’s obviously not the result we came here for and not the second half performance we came here to put in either, so we’re pretty gutted.” 

Like his captain Rory Darge and head coach Gregor Townsend, Cummings admitted ill-discipline put the visitors under huge pressure during the second half.  

“We’re going to have to have a look at that second half. We lost the penalty count quite drastically and we’ll need to improve that.” 

READ MORE: Gregor Townsend defiant over Scotland future after Italy defeat

Sam Skinner's try three minutes from the end gave Scotland hope of snatching victory and the visitors had a long attacking spell with the clock having gone through the 80-minute mark.  

Cuummings was frustrated they couldn’t get over the line, but said it should never have come down to a last gasp rescue attempt.  

“We can talk about not scoring at the end of the game but that’s not the problem, the problem was the fact we let that situation happen. 

“We had the capabilities to win that game if we hadn’t let it get to that stage. 

“All credit to Italy, they played really well but we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that situation.” 

The visitors lost the second half penalty count by seven to one, and 12 to five overall and Cummings acknowledged Scotland must learn not to get on the wrong side of officials  

“We lost the penalty count by six or seven to one. We weren’t on the side of the ref towards the end of the game and it’s up to us control that as much as the referee. We’ve got to be smarter in how we play. 

“We all know it was not good enough.” 

The Glasgow lock praised the victorious Italians for their performance.  

"Italy played really well. They’ve got some great players and they play some amazing rugby.  

“There’s obviously that growth coming in Italian rugby and they played really well. They’ve got some amazing players like Louis Lynagh and Monty Ioane, and the Benetton boys in and around the pack played really, really well. Credit to them.” 

Scotland head to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday having not won in Ireland since 2010, and without a win over Ireland of any sorts since 2017.  

Cummings said it is the perfect match for Scotland to bounce back.  

He added: "To get a win out there we’re going to have to have a 10 out of 10 performance. Ireland are one of the best teams in the world and we’ve got to go to Dublin and try and put a performance in. 

“We’ll have a look at this game during the first couple of days but we then need to focus on Ireland and change one or two things and make sure we finish this campaign the way we want to and represent the country how we want to with the final performance.” 

Andy Farrell’s side dumped Scotland out of the World Cup on another day where Townsend’s men failed to deliver.  

Cummings said they’ll be out to put that right next Saturday.  

He said: “We remember that last game at the World Cup when we didn’t show up how we wanted to show up and that still lives in our memories. 

“There’s going to be no shortage of motivation after this game and the last time we played Ireland so we’re excited for it. It’s obviously going to be a tough challenge but one we’re ready to take on.”