Scotland v Italy Preview: Chris Paterson insists the emphasis will be on try-scoring rather than his own kicking when Italy visit Murrayfield today.

The Edinburgh Gunners man was the only points-scorer in the 40-9 defeat at Twickenham last weekend following his 20-point haul against Wales in the previous game.

But Paterson maintains Scotland are determined to sign off their own campaign in style with a confident victory over the Italians.

"You can have good days and bad days with kicking but our focus this weekend must be on scoring tries. We have created quite a few good opportunities but executed very few of them.

"We have to score tries, not just in this game but also in the future matches. Even at Twickenham, we cut through one of the best defensive lines in world rugby a few times but failed to score.

"But we want to score tries for ourselves and the supporters. I want to get involved as much as I can. You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket and leave one of your team-mates exposed.

"It's a fine line about being sensible about doing the right things at the right time. You have to play within the team surroundings and, if I can win the ball at a ruck for somebody else to score, I will be just as delighted.

"The performance is key. When we won against Wales, it lifted everyone.

"It was such a good feeling and that is why you play international rugby and it is desperately important we get a win."

Paterson, who celebrates his 25th birthday this weekend, is part of an unchanged Scotland XV named by coach Ian McGeechan.

But the utility back laughs off suggestions the disappointing results of the A team, who were hammered 78-6 by England A last week, will engender complacency in the senior team.

Paterson said: "All the players want the A team to win as much as anyone else. We watched the game and were disappointed. We felt for them.

"They committed such simple mistakes and one missed tackle saw four or five heroic attempts to get back. But that is just one game and the A team, historically, are very strong.

"The under-21s have performed well and there are guys there who are capable of stepping up.

"So you have to be really focused on staying at the top of your game."

But Paterson insists all Scotland eyes are focused on the final Six Nations game rather than the rest of 2003.

He said: "We haven't really talked about the World Cup. This is still the Six Nations campaign.

"Italy is the culmination of the Six Nations and nobody is looking any farther than that."