SCOTLAND hooker Ross Ford believes there can be no let-up on Saturday when the national team take on Italy for the second successive week. With the first two games in the Rugby World Cup just four days apart, the Edinburgh forward thinks this match at Murrayfield is a perfect opportunity for the team to show that they have benefitted from ending a six-match losing run in Turin last weekend.

“It’s important to have that momentum moving forward,” Ford said. “There’s a short turnaround in games at the World Cup, so if we need to make small changes then it could make all the difference.

“That’s the opportunity we have this week. It’s the chance for us to make another statement.

“We didn’t play phenomenally well in Italy, so we’ll make some changes this week in our application and attitude to make sure we keep moving forward in the right direction. It was good to pick up a win when we didn’t perform all that great as it’s a confidence booster.

“It’s always easier going into a game on the back of a win even if it was a close one. We’re under no illusions that we need to strive to get better.”

Scotland were under pressure for much of the game against Italy, particularly up front, and had Glasgow scrum-half Henry Pyrgos to thank for scoring the only try of the game. But the turning point in the 16-12 win arguably came much earlier than that try, when Ford and his two clubmates, props Alasdair Dickinson and WP Nel, came off the bench.

Those three now look like being Scotland coach Vern Cotter’s first-choice front row for the World Cup, and Ford accepted that the number of times they have played together for Edinburgh gives them a good chance of being selected as a unit. “Dicko, myself and WP have played a lot of rugby together, so we have a slightly better advantage than the rest of the boys, knowing how each other work and the set-up that’s required,” he said.

“We play 70 minutes week in and week out with each other, against everybody, so we almost instinctively know what to do against different opposition. We feel what’s happening in the scrum and react to it quite well. That’s maybe an advantage right there, and it’s helpful.”

Nel was making his debut against the Italians, but at 29 is no rookie. Ford was not surprised by how immediately the South African-born prop made an impact on the match. “The way WP plays, he’s really good to scrum with. He’s so aggressive: he wants to go forward all the time, which makes my job a lot easier.

“Around the pitch he throws himself about. He brought his family across here and made the statement by doing that that he was committed, so it was really good to see him get that first cap and get a start now. I think he’s deserved it.”

Recent games between Scotland and Italy have been close and often dour, but Ford thinks the Azzurri are the ideal opponents at this stage of World Cup preparations because of the challenge they pose up front. “They are very good for preparation as they are very set-piece wise and that’s where they game starts, so we need to be strong in that area.

“We need to nullify their set-piece, as so much comes from set-pieces. There have been games against Italy where we have managed to score some tries and others have been a real grind. The games aren’t always the most open – but I always enjoy winning.”