Scotland are a team on our level, and perhaps you could even say we are favourites as we are playing at home in front of our own fans.

But this automatically means that there is more pressure on the players. Nobody really expected Italy to beat England or France, but the Scotland match is a different matter.

We have a number of young players in our team, and I think that some of them could feel the pressure of the fans' expectations, especially in the early stages of the game. It is to be hoped that this does not result in any of those players making any vital mistakes.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the Scotland game. We are evenly-matched sides, so it will allow us to see how far we have progressed. It is not the end of the world if we lose but it is crucial for us to match the Scots. To win the game, though, we will have to improve in attack.

I have been very impressed with our defensive play; I think it has improved since the World Cup and this was shown in the game against France [Italy lost 25-0 in Paris]. But nine points from two games is a poor return and proves we have not made much progress in that department.

Andrea Masi and Sergio Parisse did well against England, and Denis Dallan and Aaron Persico have also been impressive in the tournament so far.

The test against Scotland will be how much we can threaten as an attacking force.