Hines: Finds himself outnumbered

The victory confirmed the 30 men he plans to take to the Rugby World Cup.

The Scots followed up the 10-6 win over Ireland a fortnight ago to claim a 100 per cent record from their two warm-up fixtures, with tries from Alasdair Dickinson and Mike Blair supported by 13 points from the boot of Dan Parks.

Robinson will reveal his squad on Monday, with eight players set to miss the cut and Scotland wing Nikki Walker a doubt after picking up a knee injury on Saturday.

Asked whether he knows his final 30, Robinson said: "Yes.

"I wanted to watch today's game to confirm everything. I'm pleased with what I saw today to confirm it.

"The final decision will be made in discussion with the coaches tonight and based on the injury report from Nikki Walker."

Walker, who came on as a substitute after 54 minutes, was taken off on a stretcher three minutes from time.

Robinson added: "He's got damage to his knee and he's going for further scans.

"It's really disappointing for him that he's got the injury, but we are hopeful that it is not as bad as maybe first thought.

"Nikki's the only (injury) concern I have."

The win over Ireland was a ragged performance, with victory achieved through the one move of class as Joe Ansbro scored a late try.

This display was marginally better, but still early-season fare, with two defensive lapses punished by Italy as Tommaso Benvenuti and Fabio Sementazo crossed for tries.

Robinson said: "The one thing I've been really pleased about is the way we've started games and the energy we've put into that first 20 minutes.

"Today we started very well. In some respects we're having too much possession.

"But the work we've been doing and the movement involving the whole XV I've been pleased with.

"It's important we're able to build on the starts we're getting.

"Credit to Italy, though. I thought they scored a very good try (through Benvenuti) from that scrum."

Robinson believes Scotland are improving and must learn to finish chances.

He added: "The team are frustrated that we weren't able to go on to win by 40 points with the opportunities we created.

"That's the mentality, the skill level, the decision-making we've got to be able to find.

"It's about how we are able to achieve that - let's not stop creating opportunities.

"We are working hard to create opportunities - it's now about really nailing them."

There were a number of positives for Scotland ahead of their World Cup Pool B opener against Romania in Invercargill on September 10.

Nick De Luca and Evans performed well in the backs, scrum-half Chris Cusiter came off the bench for his international return following a 17-month absence and Euan Murray steadied a scrum which had seen Dickinson tormented by Martin Castrogiovanni and Moray Low by Andrea Lo Cicero.

Robinson was satisfied the scrum improved throughout the contest.

He added: "We were able to find out something about ourselves and I thought we did better in the second half and certainly on our ball we kept our composure.

"We were able to win every single ball (on our put-in), so that in itself was pleasing."

Italy moved within a point of Scotland when Sementazo crossed early in the second half, but ultimately fell short.

Nonetheless, Italy head coach Nick Mallett was pleased with the improvement from last week's 31-24 come-from-behind win over Japan.

Mallett said: "In some areas we were much better than against Japan, but there's just an enormous amount of improvement in terms of our understanding in terms of how to control a game of rugby.

"Our forward pack were very good today - it's the first time an Italian pack has stolen three line-outs from a Six Nations side in our 22 when they were on attack.

"It must've been very frustration for Sergio (Parisse, the Italy captain) to have won so much ball and to have spent the whole game playing between our 10-yard line and our 22. That was the big mistake we made today.

"Before we go to the World Cup we have to make our number 10s and our number nines understand what ball is going forward ball that you can hold onto and what ball is slow ball which needs judicious kicking.

"We didn't see that today and that was one of the reasons we lost."