Scotland narrowly avoided a nightmare end to their Six Nations campaign on Saturday, beating Italy 29-27 after trailing the perennial wooden-spooners for most of the game.

Scotland scored four tries and clinched the win with a late penalty but the result could well have gone the other way, with the expectant home crowd of 60,000 on the verge of celebrating Italy's first Six Nations victory in three years.

Scotland broke the Azzurri down in the final 10 minutes with a try by full-back Stuart Hogg, having already crossed the chalk through hooker Fraser Brown, captain John Barclay and winger Sean Maitland. Scrumhalf Greig Laidlaw drove the nail into Italian hearts in the final minutes with a penalty.

For Italy, fly-half Tommaso Allan scored two tries, with fullback Matteo Minozzi also crossing the line.