Scotland hooker Lana Skeldon was keen to take the positives out of Scotland’s performance in the 46-0 defeat to England on Saturday.
Skeldon has been on the receiving end of some huge defeats to the Red Roses, such as the 80-0 annihilation at Twickenham in five years ago.
While Scotland head coach Bryan Easson voiced his frustration post-match, the Hawick-born hooker put a more positive spin on a 25th consecutive defeat to England.
READ MORE: Bryan Easson 'frustrated' as he admits Scotland 'didn't fire a shot' in England defeat
She said: "As a front three and a pack there were some bits we were happy with.
“England is always going to be our biggest challenge, but the scrum went pretty well at times and we can build on that into the last two games.
“Second half the lineout seemed to get a bit better and functioned which was good.
"There were parts of that game that we are happy with, they are ultimately seven years ahead of us in terms of professionalism and they played very well.” but for us we will take the bits that we are happy with from the first three games, hopefully put them together and go out to Italy and get the performance we are after.
“We will reflect on the bits we didn’t quite get right, reflect on what we did individually and as a team and take that forward to Italy."
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Head coach Easson admitted the performance was not good enough, and Skeldon and co must bounce back in Parma next Saturday if they are to keep their hopes of finishing third – and securing Rugby World Cup qualification – alive.
“Italy are a great side and playing them away from home brings its challenges, but we are a very close-knit group.
“It is all about bringing our own energy when we go on the road and we are very good at that as we showed when we went down to Wales.
“For us, it is about focusing on ourselves this week and really looking at how we can go out there and execute the performance that we are after.”
Skeldon did concede there were parts of the eight tries to nil defeat the Scotland squad were not pleased, with but said staying positive is how she deals with setbacks.
“There were parts of the game we were frustrated with of course, but if we constantly focus on the negatives we are never going to get anywhere.
“I don’t want everyone to feel sorry for themselves, we have been through things like this before and you can’t dwell on them.
“We need to take the good parts from this game and the other two we have played and just add to them.
“It can be tough to be positive after a game like that, but it is my job, with the experience I have, to show everyone that there is good things to build on and we really do have two massive games to focus on now.”
Playing in front of 7,774 fans is a far cry from Skeldon’s early days with the national team, where matches attracted crowds in the low hundreds.
She thanked everyone who turned out at Hive Stadium on Saturday.
Skeldon added: "The noise and the anthem blew me away and the crowd brought so much energy to the team and it just shows how things are growing, how many people are behind us and it is incredible to be making this history with the team.”
Skeldon was also full of praise for lock Fiona McIntosh, who won her first cap as a late replacement in the starting XV for Emma Wassell, who withdrew for personal reasons.
McIntosh has been with the squad since last year’s WXV2 win but has been unable to break into Easson’s matchday squad until the defeat to France.
Skeldon said: “She is fantastic around the group, she epitomises ‘team first’ and what our team values are.
“She is great around the team and in camp and she did well today. That is a toughie to come into for your first cap and she was fantastic and I am just so happy for her that she now has that first cap as she deserves it.”
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