Hines wary of another Italy meltdown as Scots aim to finish on high

Assistant coach haunted by home loss to Azzurri Gilchrist steps up after Richie Gray is ruled out

from the off. But when scrum-half Chris Cusiter was intercepted and stand-off Phil Godman was charged down within the first ten minutes as Scotland conceded three early tries and went on to lose 37-17 at Murrayfield, meltdown was at hand. Hines had experienced defeat in Rome in 2004 and would go on to taste it again in 2008 and 2010, but nothing was as bad as being humiliated by the Azzurri at home.

“I can remember my mood, I can remember what I was saying to myself,” he said. “I was looking up at the clock and thinking ... well, it’s a word that you can’t print. I think we got our tactics a little bit wrong that day. It’s something we didn’t prepare for, being that far down. Giving any team a 21-point headstart, you’re not going to have an enjoyable day at the office, are you?”

Hines was not involved with Scotland two years ago when Italy came to Murrayfield and left with the spoils, yet he has seen enough of them this year to know that it could happen again. “Italy haven’t just beaten us in the past, they’ve also recently beaten South Africa,” he said. “They’re a good side and have been leading in three of their four games in this Six Nations, so we can’t say they’re just not going to turn up.” The mood music has not been helped by yesterday’s announcement that Richie Gray has failed a fitness test and will be replaced by Grant Gilchrist. Although Cotter has forbidden his players to talk about the match in terms of his farewell, giving him a decent send-off after three transformative years is a huge motivating factor. “Vern’s passionate about this job and about Scotland, you can see it when he talks to us,” said back-rower Ryan Wilson. “But it’s a mark of the man that he doesn’t want anything to be about him.”