Sean Maitland: Living the dream

Sean Maitland is determined to make an impression at Murrayfield next Saturday following his Scotland debut.

The New Zealand-born wing scored his first Test try on his maiden appearance early on in the 38-18 RBS 6 Nations loss to England on Saturday.

Now the 24-year-old Glasgow Warrior aims to improve on his performance against Italy.

"Things have gone really fast for me," said Maitland, who joined Glasgow from the Crusaders in October and qualifies for Scotland through his paternal grandparents.

"I've only been here for a couple of months. To be playing Test rugby for Scotland is a dream come true.

"It's just the start, hopefully, for me. Going back home to Murrayfield is going to be special. "Hopefully I get to play and experience Murrayfield for the first time.

"I've still got a lot to prove to the people of Scotland, getting selected having not been in the country for long."

Maitland believes there is plenty of room for improvement after England dominated in the key areas of the game.

When Scotland's back three of Maitland, Tim Visser and Stuart Hogg did get the ball, they showed their attacking ability.

Maitland said: "There's a few things we need to work on. The tackle area and getting our backs involved. We (the backs) were a bit of a myth out there."

Half-back Greig Laidlaw is confident Scotland will make the necessary improvements required for success against Italy.

Edinburgh captain Laidlaw, who made his first start at scrum-half having been fielded at fly-half last autumn by former Scotland head coach Andy Robinson, said: "I expect us to fix it and I expect us to be firing on all cylinders.

"We just need to get back on the horse and whoever's in front of us we need to try to put them away. That's exactly what we'll be focusing on come next Saturday."

The Italy match is the first of three successive home matches, with Ireland and Wales also visiting Edinburgh.

Many believe the Azzurri fixture will be a wooden spoon decider. Last season Scotland lost in Rome to finish sixth in the tournament.

"People can say what they like," Laidlaw said.

"We'll turn up next week to try to win that game. We've got three home games in a row.

"Build confidence next week, get into Italy and hopefully get the ball rolling from there."