Scotland got their opening match against England at Twickenham off to a perfect start when New Zealand-born wing Sean Maitland scored a try after just nine minutes.

However England took control thereon in with Scotland only managing one more try through full-back Stuart Hogg as they fell to a 38-18 defeat.

Scotland are now looking to bounce back against Italy, who beat France 23-18 in Rome in their opening match, in the first of three straight games at Murrayfield.

And Scotland scrum-half Pyrgos, who once again starts on the bench, insists the difference in performance from the England clash to that against the Azzurri will be vast.

“I feel like we have a really good squad and the boys know that. We have got belief. But that opening performance was really frustrating,” said Pyrgos.

“There were parts when we played really well and caused them a lot of problems, and others when we let ourselves down, especially in the contact area when we were not as accurate as we should have been.

“That costs you games, especially in Test matches when things hinge on the small margins. But we can definitely fix it in time for Italy.

“It’s a hard area – most games are won in the contact zone. Both teams are going at it and one team has to come out on top.

“We’ll just have to work hard and I believe you will definitely see an improvement from last weekend to this weekend.”