Vern Cotter stays grounded after Scotland's trouncing of Italy
Last Updated: 29/08/15 7:51pm
Scotland coach Vern Cotter insists his side still need to improve before the World Cup, despite running in six tries against Italy.
The Dark Blues claimed their biggest victory since their 46-point winning margin over Portugal at the 2007 tournament as they beat the Azzurri for the second time in eight days.
The nervy side which edged out the Italians narrowly in Turin last week was replaced by a line-up oozing confidence at Murrayfield at they stormed to a 48-7 success.
Sean Lamont and Tim Visser both scored doubles, while John Barclay and Mark Bennett also crossed over.
But as much as Scotland were impressive - particularly at the scrum, where they dominated the heavyweight Italian pack - Cotter saw plenty of things to stop him getting carried away.
He said: "Once again, it's a mixed bag. Two tries came from interceptions and that's the reality of that.
"We have tried over 40 players and that's our third pre-World Cup game. Some players had their first game and we weren't particularly accurate at times.
There were some good things and definitely things to focus on. I'm not entirely happy with everything. We're improving but we're not there yet.
Vern Cotter
"From our launch plays, we threw a few balls to the ground. We need to be more accurate at that. We certainly need to improve all over.
"The positive side of things was that we improved in certain sectors we looked at last week. We had more ball than last week but we will need to become more accurate once again.
"There were some good things and definitely things to focus on. I'm not entirely happy with everything. We're improving but we're not there yet."
Cotter will sit down with his assistants to assess the 40 remaining members of his squad and make the tough choices on which of them will make his 31-man World Cup squad.
The majority of the 15 who started against Italy are certainties to travel but for flankers Ryan Wilson and Barclay, it was their last chance to impress.
It was Scarlets man Barclay who showed up most, but Cotter refused to give anything away before he breaks the news to his team ahead of Tuesday's squad announcement.
Asked to assess the performance of Barclay - who ended a near two-year stint in the wilderness with his starting role - the Kiwi said: "He was okay. But I can't offer anything until I look at it closely."
Disappointed Italy head coach Jacques Brunel said: "It's really difficult to understand how we can change so much in the space of one week.
"My concern is how to keep up our momentum. We played really well last week but then this week we give away three intercepts and a huge amount of possession. That's what scares me.
"I really don't understand what happened today. You really should ask the players what went wrong."
