IT MAY have been too close for comfort at times, and too close to call at others, but Greig Laidlaw insisted he was always certain of victory against Italy yesterday. Not only during the game itself, or after that lightning start in which Scotland scored two tries, but before kick-off.

“I knew today when we took that field we were going to win - I could see it in the boys’ eyes,” the captain said after his team’s 36-20 win in Rome’s Olympic Stadium.

“Italy were on top for a couple of points in the game, which you’re always going to get at this level. But the scrum was absolutely fantastic, Stuart Hogg’s touch of class at the end to put Tommy Seymour away was fantastic.

“The character shown when we were defending our line, sometimes that gets forgotten. The team sometimes, 15 of us, just digging in, filling in where we’re needed, that’s what gets us across the line.”

While Scotland were given two yellow cards, Italian forward Francesco Minto might also have been sinbinned for a tip tackle on Laidlaw, as the scrum-half explained. “I’m not the heaviest customer in the world, but I was unduly dumped straight on top of my head,” he said.

“I was trying to get [the referee] to at least have a look at it. You sometimes need to push the boundaries with the referee, and they were certainly doing that from the other side - more aggressive than we were.”

Laidlaw has known victories before in the Six Nations, but this was a first win in the championship for Vern Cotter and for several of the players. Over the last few weeks they have insisted that once one victory comes, others could follow - but, having said that, they know it will not be easy when France come to Edinburgh a fortnight today.

“It’s significant, of course it is,” Laidlaw asked how important the result was. “Winning is what it’s all about – we understand that, and for some of the young players being on this roll has been tough. I’m so happy for them as well, but we won this game because we deserved to win it, and we need to understand why we deserved to win it and move on to the next game.

“We’ve talked about trying to make Murrayfield a horrible place for teams to come and play, and we’ve not forgotten about that. Already we’re excited about pulling on that jersey at Murrayfield on our home patch in a couple of weeks’ time. France will be big and physical and present a slightly different challenge.”

Cotter, the head coach, expressed delight at the character shown in adversity by his team. “Rather than worrying about losing, they strived for the win and scored that try at the end,” he said. “This team has got the win and I think they deserved it.

“So credit to these boys. Greig had a great role as captain: he kept composure and he knocked the points over by threes when we needed them, and we scored those tries. So . . . . Very happy - even though I probably don't look happy.”

Sergio Parisse, the Italian captain, accepted that Scotland had played well, but complained about the refereeing of the scrum. “Credit to Scotland,” he said. “They defended very well, maybe sometimes on the edge.

“Maybe we could have taken different decisions at the end. The final score is a bit harsh thanks to their final try.

“The scrum is the same old story - a bit of a lottery. I think Jaco Peyper was pretty poor in that area today, but I don’t mean we would have won if that had been different. We never blame the ref, but they make mistakes just like we do.”