McLean hails Azzurri forwards

Mark Bennett's intercept try and 11 points from skipper Greig Laidlaw's boot looked to have put the hosts in command early on, but scores from Joshua Furno and Giovanbattista Venditti, plus five points from kicker Kelly Haimona, allowed the Italians back into the contest just before the break.

Laidlaw added another penalty after the restart, but his side could not hold off a late surge from the Azzurri and left referee George Clancy with no option but to hand the Italians a last-gasp penalty try, converted by Tommy Allan.

Having been pipped by Scotland in their last two Six Nations contests, McLean was relieved to see things finally turn out in the Azzurri's favour.

He told BBC One: "It's been a long couple of years with Italy. We've had a couple of tough losses against Scotland in the last two years so it was good to be on the other side of the result.

"Our forwards really set the platform today. We scored a try off a really good maul at the start of the first half and, full credit to them, they came out today and really stood up for us.

"To win is tough enough, to win away is a good thing and now we look forward to the next two games. Luckily enough we have two games at home so we'll try and push on from there."