Scotland coach Frank Hadden looked a forlorn figure after his side's last-gasp 23-20 Six Nations loss to Italy at Rome's Stadio Flaminio.

Scotland had bossed much of the match and were clearly frustrated that certain decisions had gone against them before Andrea Marcato's last-minute drop goal gave Italy their first win under new coach Nick Mallett.

The three-point difference meant the Scots avoided the wooden spoon - Italy needed to win by at least five points to overtake their visitors in the final standings - but that was scant consolation for Hadden.

Despite his obvious displeasure with the officiating - there was a clear forward pass from Sergio Parisse to Gonzalo Canale for Italy's second try - Hadden claimed to be proud of his young squad.

They certainly have improved drastically since their opening 27-6 thrashing at the hands of France, which was followed up by a 30-15 defeat to Wales and 34-13 reverse against Ireland before they beat England 15-9 at Murrayfield.

It had seemed at the start of the tournament as if Scotland had taken a huge step backwards since the World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals - at Italy's expense.

"The preparations [for the Six Nations] just weren't good enough," said Hadden. "We had a lot of difficulties from extremely difficult weather conditions, illness and a stream of unavailabilities.

"Under these circumstances we've fought our way back into making some progress."

Still despite this setback, Hadden feels the future is bright for Scottish rugby.

"I'm extremely optimistic in the quality of this squad. We're not far away from making a serious impact and punching above our weight in future competitions," he said.

Flanker Allister Hogg put Scotland back on level terms following an early penalty try for the hosts as the visitors stretched Italy with a series of phases that resulted in Hogg breaking through.

Dan Parks landed a penalty to briefly give Scotland the lead before Marcato levelled matters.

But quick thinking from captain and scrum-half Mike Blair to pick up and score under the posts gave Scotland a 17-10 half-time lead.

On the hour, though, Parisse intercepted Parks and sprinted clear before sending a long - and forward - pass to Canale to score under the posts.

Marcato and Chris Paterson traded penalties before Marcato's drop goal won the match for Italy.

AFP