Scotland sent stern warning over Six Nations performance despite Italy win as Gregor Townsend hails key man

Gregor Townsend has assessed Scotland’s 31-19 Six Nations win over Italy - as Finn Russell delivers a warning to teammate.

The home side at Murrayfield started the tournament in a strong mood but penalties were allowing Italy to stay in the game. It was 19-19 when Scotland pulled back ahead and never looked back. In the end, three Huw Jones tries inspired the nation to victory ahead of meeting Ireland next week.

Russell insists the performance levels must go up. He told the BBC: "It was good to battle at the end for the win but we'll need to be a lot better if we want to do anything in this tournament. For me personally my mistake was frustrating. The mistakes, the looseness we had, were probably individual [errors] which will be easier to fix. We'll come back Monday or Tuesday and sort a few things out.

"Huw [Jones] was outstanding today. I thought Stafford [McDowall] was really good at 12 as well. The backs worked really well together, created a lot of chances and if we're going to do anything in this tournament we have to try and finish those off. There were probably four of five tries we left out there today.

Darcy Graham added: "It was good to get back out there, it's such a different atmosphere, the hype starts early. It's been frustrating not playing the last couple of Six Nations but I'm happy to be back. We've got a couple of things to work on but the carries I got influenced the game and some big moments off the back of that which I'm happy with.

"Credit to Italy today, they were a quality team. The improvements they've made over the last few seasons are incredible. It was a really hard game and I think the boys were a bit nervous about the first game. They build the scoreboard and that kind of puts pressure on us to go away from our gameplan. It's a massive win for us, a massive start to our campaign and plenty of things to learn for next week.

"Penalties kept them in the game, it was our mistakes, so it was just about sticking to our gameplan and wait for somebody to bring that spark."

Townsend meanwhile had praise for one player in particular. He added: "I think a lot of the forwards provided a platform at times, they worked really hard. We had to defend our line on two or three occasions in that second half so it was a tough opening game but we managed to get the win.

"I was more frustrated with the minutes and the opportunities before the score was level we weren't taking. If you're knocking on the door, and you continue to knock on the door, those moments will come. Credit to the players to get the win and that bonus point which might be important in the end.

"There were a lot of positives aspects today. Huw [Jones] is a very, very good defender. Today he supported very well and it's great that he got those tries. There was a physical challenge today. The most important element today was the mental challenge. To come together as a team on the field to find solutions and find a way to win which will be important in the next games."