Alastair Kellock says Scotland are well aware of the importance of their wooden spoon decider against Italy on Saturday
Scotland skipper ready for 'massive game' against Italy
Scotland captain Alastair Kellock says his side are well aware of the importance of their wooden spoon decider against Italy on Saturday.
After suffering a 22-16 defeat to England at Twickenham, Scotland must beat the Azzurri at home in order to avoid finishing bottom of the RBS Six Nations table.
Scotland put in a much-improved performance on Saturday but still remain winless in the competition after previous losses to France, Wales and Ireland.
And Kellock believes that Italy, who won at Murrayfield in 2007, will be formidable opponents after their shock victory over France at the weekend.
"It's a massive game for us, we know that," the Glasgow lock said.
Positives
"We've got to take positives from the England game and use the momentum we've got - even though we were beaten - to push for a top performance that it will take to beat the Italians, especially on the back of the win they've just had.
"England and ourselves have huge weekends this weekend, but unfortunately for us for different reasons."
Against England, Scotland were level at half-time and threatened a comeback in the closing stages when a converted Max Evans try brought them to within three points.
He added: "We had a real chance of winning that game; everybody realises how special it would've been had we won that game.
"We've got to look at the things we did well, take them on board and push to get a performance this week."
Scotland have finished one place above Italy in the Six Nations table for the last three years and Kellock feels the two sides are very evenly matched ahead of the clash.
Tight
He said: "It's been very tight throughout the whole championship. The only game that's gone awry is the Italy-England game and I think that says more about how good England were.
"Although it (Italy's win against France) was a surprise you could see it coming.
"Their defence was very, very good. The turnovers they got from France and the territory they got because of that meant that they could go on and win the game.
"They were forcing France to do things they wouldn't normally do. The Italians are very good and renowned for trying to stop teams playing.
"We've got to go out there, we've got to control the ball, our set-piece has to be a lot better and play in the right areas, hopefully scoring some tries."
