Johnnie Beattie back on the ball as he commits future to Glasgow

The No8 has attracted scouts from a handful of clubs across the UK and France, both when he was out of contract at Glasgow two years ago and in recent months as his current agreement nears its conclusion. Of the interest from abroad, Toulouse, Biarritz and Clermont Auvergne have all made offers in recent weeks far greater than that on the table at Glasgow, so he certainly had real choices.

Kelly Brown has opted to leave Glasgow for Guinness Premiership side Saracens while openside flanker John Barclay has recently pledged his future to Glasgow. Beattie revealed yesterday that while a new deal has not yet been signed, he has decided to follow Barclay and stay in Scotland.

"I'd like to stay," he said. "I am reaching a stage of consistency in my performances now, I am a Glasgow boy and love playing for Glasgow every opportunity I am given.

"I feel that I owe it to myself and people who come to watch that I give more performances to Glasgow and help us stay where we are. We got to the top of the league and we have come back down a little, but it is up to us to get back up the league and I want to be part of that."

Beattie explained that the form of the back row had played a part in convincing him he could become the consistent international performer he seeks to be without playing in England or France and, having begun to uncover some dearly-sought consistency, at still only 24, he believes there is more improvement to come from him under the current coaches. He admitted to disappointment at the forthcoming departure of Brown, but the proud Glaswegian believes there is strength in depth in the Scottish game to continue the upward trends of late.

"That's the thing with the talent pool in Scotland. There are only two teams, and if you look at the depth of the back row at Glasgow it could be that Kelly leaving will open the door for the likes of Richie Vernon, James Eddie, Calum Forrester and others to play every week. There is depth there.

"It will be disappointing to see Kelly go, but at the same time you have got to see it as potential for growth, a chance for the young guys to come through. In many ways that is the biggest positive you can get. Kelly is going to go off to play top-class rugby with Saracens, but will still come back here to play international stuff. It does open a door and give us a bigger base as an international team.

"For me, I just feel I have more to do here. The consistency is coming just from me maturing, doing a bit more analysis, working with coaches, working with Barclay, Kelly, just everything. You say I am stringing together more consistent performances, but I know it is not going to last forever and I am going to have bad games. But it is about working yourself to get back up."

The spotlight this week turns back firmly on to what Beattie and his fellow "B"s can do on the Test stage, and against an intriguing Italian back row that may be missing its world star in Sergio Parisse, but still packs a punch with Josh Sole, Mauro Bergamasco and Beattie's opposite number, Alessandro Zanni, the man of the match in the recent 17-12 defeat by England.

Beattie admitted that he steered clear of rugby in the wake of the loss in Wales, to the extent he didn't even pick up a ball last week, but, now desperate to pull the Scotland jersey back on and show the same form that helped put Scotland into a winning position in Cardiff, he alluded to a realisation within the squad that amidst the ten minutes of mayhem, their own mistakes were what took it away from them.

"It wasn't a very enjoyable place to be, in camp after that game," he said. "I enjoyed going away and spending time with my family, training by myself and thinking about different things.

"I didn't pick up a rugby ball, but I worked in the gym and things. In many ways I didn't enjoy the wait until the de-brief this week; I wanted to get that over and get on with the game against Italy, so I'm pleased we're at that stage now.

"The majority (of the team] all felt they had good games, which only makes the result more disappointing, but that's the way international rugby is. Critical instances change games and we all know that. You've got to be committed and focused 100 per cent of the time; a few slip-ups and we lost the game, and that's what you have to expect.

"I didn't record the game and didn't see it until this week. But a lot of people (players] were really shocked. We didn't finish things off, didn't execute things properly, couple of sin-binnings, couple of missed tackles and that's the rugby match.

"We made five, six or seven mistakes in those last ten minutes and you don't expect that, and it was surprising to see it from us. It's not about the substitutes – we all train together – and the boys are used to dealing with pressure; we've all played in the Six Nations before.

"But we know we're in control of the game and the way we want to play, and things we did in those last ten minutes were not what we intended to do. People will say we've learned lessons on what not to do, but the only place to show that is out on the pitch so I just want to get out there and play now."

Rome and the Azzurri will be a new experience for Beattie, who wins his tenth cap on Saturday, as he has not faced them before at full Test level – indeed he is the only member of the starting Scotland line-up not to have faced Italy in the past – though he recalls a few age-grade and A encounters that were all won and is keen to keep that run going. But the confident, yet self-effacing and maturing character acknowledged that Scotland and the burgeoning back row have to lift their performance levels again if they are to deal with a home team buoyed by coming so close to beating England last time out. "We know it will be tough," he said. "Most of their internationals are playing across the top clubs in Europe and they are enormously physical.

"It used to be the case that they didn't have people to control the back line so if you tied up the forwards you were all right, but now they have the boy (Craig] Gower at ten and a really good nine and have options, and can play, so they're a lot more of a handful and harder to analyse.

"Gower is a (rugby] league convert so we know he'll look to ship the ball and put people into space, which means he's tricky to mark and defend, but we'll look to get in his face and give him as little time as possible on the ball and pressurise him.

"But we have to go out there confident. I think if you look back over the past four years we (the back row] have done consistently well at Glasgow and it's really pleasing that we've come through and proven that we can do it on the international stage. We have to prove we can be consistent, and particularly me because that's been my problem in the past." In yesterday's edition, the wrong kick-off time was published for Italy v Scotland in the RBS Six Nations Championship on Saturday. The match starts at 1330 GMT. We apologise for any confusion caused.