Scotland head coach Bryan Easson admitted there is more to come from his side despite ending a 25-year wait for a win in Italy this afternoon.  

Easson’s side dominated possession and territory but could not take advantage until two late tries saw them pull clear of the Azzure.  

Easson said: “I think it is a mark of the team now that we are critiquing wins because we want to get better.  

“We want to be fighting and winning against the best teams, and to do that we've got to be more consistent with our performances. We'll always look at areas we can improve.” 

Easson said he was frustrated with aspects of the performance, while captain Rachel Malcolm admitted Scotland should have had more control of the contest.  

Malcolm said: “It wasn't always the prettiest but we just had to dig in and stay true to the gameplan.  

“When we did that in the second half, we tore Italy apart defensively. When we played into their hands, that's when we struggled.  

“We probably let it get closer than it should have. I think we left points out there."  

Easson added: “I thought we put ourselves under pressure at times. We didn’t keep the ball for long enough and we overplayed a little in the middle third. 

“When we attacked in the second half we put them under more pressure. It wasn’t the best performance - however, we executed when we needed to.” 

Scotland came into the championship off the back of six consecutive wins, a run they extended to a record seven matches with victory in Wales.  

And the Scotland boss praised his side for hanging on to another win on the road.  

“We would have lost this game a year ago,” he added.  

“You learn how to win, and how to build a lead, and we did that. That was probably the pleasing thing - we knew how to dig out a win, although it wasn’t a brilliant performance. 

“There’s a reason why you don’t win in a place like this for 25 years.” 

Easson said attention has already turned to next week’s match with Ireland, who were thrashed 88-10 by England at Twickenham this afternoon.  

Having called for a response from his own side following a poor performance against the Red Roses last week, Easson knows Ireland coach Scott Bemand will demand the same of his charges at Kingspan Stadium next Saturday.  

He added: We've been on the end of scorelines like that and you want to show people it's a blip and it doesn't define you as a team.  

“Going to Ireland is never easy - they are a proud nation and they'll want to put in a performance that makes the country proud.”  

But the Scotland coach said his team would continue to focus on themselves ahead of the championship finale.  

“We're not going to worry about them,” Easson said.  

“The recipe for our success during this Six Nations is we've concentrated on what we have to do. We'll look at Ireland - probably not the threats but the opportunities for us.” 

Scotland could be without fullback Chloe Rollie for the trip to Belfast after her yellow card for a dangerous clear-out was upgraded to red by the ‘bunker’ review system.