John Barclay vows Scotland will bounce back from 'sickening' England defeat against Italy

Scotland captain John Barclay is expecting a reaction from his side against Italy on Saturday after a "sickening" review of their 61-21 defeat by England.

Vern Cotter's side had the chance to win a first Triple Crown since 1990 at Twickenham but were dismantled by England as the hosts ran in seven tries.

Immediately after the game Barclay branded Scotland's performance as "useless" and the flanker has promised a positive response at Murrayfield, where they have already beaten Ireland and Wales in this year's championship.

"At Twickenham, we just didn't play well enough," said Barclay. "We never got a foothold and we gave away stupid penalties.

"But we didn't make a great start against Wales and managed to deal with that.

"Everyone is honest about it. You have to be man, take your medicine and move on.

"I am confident that there will be a reaction this weekend - because it makes you sick when you watch it back. It's not easy. There will be a positive reaction.

"We need to right a few wrongs. We've had a lot of great support from the fans and, if we win three out of five, we can finish quite well in the championship. Doing that is the only way to move away from the England game."

Despite the painful video review, Barclay is adamant that Saturday's performance did not reflect the progress Scotland have made under Cotter, who will leave his role as head coach following the Italy match.

"We reviewed it and went over it," said the 30-year-old Scarlets flanker. "You can't really gloss over what went wrong.

"I certainly believe we've been on the right path and right trend. I don't think anyone saw that coming at the weekend.

"Hurting is pretty tough at this level. The manner of the defeat was more painful to take for the boys.

"But we can still finish with three wins, still finish second in the table - which we've never done in the Six Nations.

"What happened was a bump in the road - albeit a really big bump."