Six Nations: Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie dismisses anxiety claims over Italy pressure and assesses 2023 campaign

Jamie Ritchie said he never had any concerns about the outcome of Scotland’s final Six Nations match against Italy despite the visitors coming very close to springing a surprise at BT Murrayfield.

The Azzurri fought back from 19-6 down in the second half to go within a converted try of overhauling the Scots. They spent the final five minutes camped on the Scotland tryline, but Gregor Townsend’s men held firm and then broke away in added-on time to score their fourth try of the match through hat-trick hero Blair Kinghorn and record a bonus-point triumph, 26-14.

"When you win a Test match it's always a good feeling,” said Ritchie, the Scotland captain. “Italy have deserved more from this tournament, they've played a lot of good rugby and they put us under huge amounts of pressure. I'm delighted we won that.

"Credit to Italy who played some really good rugby and they put us under a bit of pressure. At the end Italy were five metres away from our line but we were confident in our defence and in how we were playing. I wasn't worried and I didn't feel anxious at all.”

Scotland's Jamie Ritchie with the Cuttitta Cup after the 26-14 win over Italy.

Ritchie was asked to give his assessment on Scotland’s campaign and he added: "Before the tournament, I said five good performances; we got four and a half. Today was a tough one, it was a solid performance. We dug it out, and we did well in the end. "We're third behind the two top teams in the world and that's a positive."