Sunday 18 March 2018 12:49, UK
Greig Laidlaw admits he had to turn a deaf ear to the Italian PA blast to ensure Scotland's Six Nations did not end on a sour note.
The scrum-half was lining up his crucial last-gasp penalty in Rome when an announcement came from the Stadio Olimpico PA system but the unwelcome broadcast did not put him off as he slotted over to clinch a 29-27 win.
That precious kick handed the Scots their first away win in the Championship for two years and Laidlaw insisted there was no chance he would let himself be distracted by outside factors.
"Yeah, that kick at the end is up there with the best I've hit," said the former skipper. "But I've already said to the boys I'd prefer they don't get us in that situation again as I don't want to have to kick too many of them.
"That's part of my job as a goal-kicker though. It's down to me to put them over and thankfully I was able to do that on Saturday.
"Somebody mentioned the Tannoy announcement but I wasn't aware. There is always noise and it's part of being a goal-kicker that you have to block noise out.
"It's all about technique. If you can hold that and back yourself then thankfully like yesterday they go over."
The Scots end the Six Nations having picked up victories over France, England and Italy but defeats to Wales and Ireland remain sore points.
Laidlaw's assessment of his side's campaign is "good - but can do better".
He said: "Of course we've got areas we still need to work on. We want to win the championship so we need to improve.
"But we've won three games this time. It's not getting any easier but we've beaten a French team who are improving. We've beaten a very good England side and a good Italian team.
"We put in a good performance against Ireland but the result so we need to learn from that, learn from today too.
"So it's been a good championship, although we could have done slightly better. We're evolving, we're getting better and it's important we really drive that along with the coaches."
