Scotland head coach Andy Robinson claimed Saturday's 21-8 victory over Italy was no more than they deserved.
Scotland coach praises Gray for man-of-the-match display
Scotland head coach Andy Robinson claimed Saturday's 21-8 victory over Italy was no more than they deserved.
The Englishman remarked as his side claimed their first win of this season's RBS Six Nations to avoid both a tournament whitewash and the wooden spoon.
The Scots were in serious danger of finishing the championship winless for the first time in seven years after Italy - fresh from last weekend's heroic triumph over France - took an 8-6 lead into the interval.
But second-half tries from Nick De Luca and Nikki Walker and an 11-point haul from Chris Paterson saw Scotland home at Murrayfield and Robinson praised the determination of his side after securing that elusive win.
He said: "That's what we're here for, to win games of rugby - I thought we got our just rewards today from our endeavour to move our game forward.
"I'm not going to hide away from the fact we were disappointed coming to the end of the championship not having won a game, as we did last year.
"It's something we've got to look at for the start of the next championship. I believe the players have given everything and it's about the small margins.
"We can't allow ourselves to come into the last game and get a win. We need to win earlier in the championship."
Improvements
Asked the lessons he has learned from the tournament, Robinson said: "There's a very fine line between winning and losing and it's much more enjoyable when you score more points than the opposition."
Scotland entered the tournament having won five out of six Tests but required victory today to avoid a first wooden spoon since 2007 and Robinson denied his players struggled with expectation.
"We haven't been good enough to win the games," added the former England head coach.
Scotland's set-piece struggled early in the tournament, but the forwards dominated against a powerful pack and Richie Gray was particularly impressive in the lineout.
Robinson added: "I thought Richie Gray on the opposition ball was fantastic.
"Al (Kellock, the Scotland captain) said to me he didn't call one lineout for Richie because he was winning too much on the opposition ball.
"But that's down to homework. The guys have put a lot of work in."
Scotland's scrum disintegrated all too often in previous matches, resulting in costly penalties and Robinson was pleased with the improvement.
"We changed the hit which was important and led to the eight scrummaging together," he added.
"I've been seeing improvements throughout the championship."
