Scotland ‘A’ head coach Andy Robinson congratulated Johnnie Beattie after the back rower scored two tries during the 22-22 draw against Italy ‘A’ at McDiarmid Park, but believes the reason the team didn’t win was because they lacked a cutting edge.

In front of a crowd of 1,376, Beattie crossed the whitewash twice during a disjoined game in Perth with Ben Cairns also contributing to the score-sheet.

As a result, Robinson admits he was pleased with the contribution made by the Glasgow Warriors No8 at the base of the scrum, but believes Beattie can improve.

Robinson said: “He (Beattie) has been going well. He has just got to find that consistency throughout the whole 80 minutes.”

But Robinson highlighted the key deficiency in the Scotland ‘A’ team on the night – the lack of clinical accuracy that blighted the side’s attempts to move forward.

Robinson said: “It is all about finding that ruthless edge to make sure that when you do create chances you finish them. You’ve got to make sure you take those chances.

“We need to stop talking about the number of chances we are creating and instead talk about getting over the line – that is the mentality we’ve got to find.

“There were too many errors and forced knock-on’s and off-loads. But the guys have got to learn from that and that is part of the game.

“The guys went out and tried some things, but when you actually review the game you’ll see that Italy came here to kick the ball, which they did well, and they got 22 points from our errors.

“They didn’t really look like scoring a try until they got that interception. But if you know that is how Italy are going to play then you must limit the amount of errors you make in your half – we didn’t do that.”

Italy’s Australian-born stand-off Christopher Burton opened the scoring on the 10-minute mark with a straightforward penalty directly in front of the posts.

Burton that doubled Italy’s early lead with an expertly-taken drop goal three minutes later with Scotland ‘A’ struggling to get a foothold in the game.

But some smart thinking from No8 Johnnie Beattie translated into Scotland’s opening try five minutes later when he picked up the ball at the base of the scrum and powered over.

With stand-off Gordon Ross adding the extras, Scotland had shunted themselves into the lead – even though the home side were guilty of some disjointed play in the back division and a series of handling errors.

On the half-hour mark, another penalty from Burton edged Italy back in front before Ross made it 10-9 in favour of the hosts with another penalty.

Then just before the half-time break, prop Ed Kalman was judged by referee JP Doyle to have body-checked the effervescent Burton and he punished Scotland with another clinically struck penalty.

After the break, Scotland burst into life when a move involving Scott MacLeod, Mark McMillan and Ross resulted in a smart off-load which Ben Cairns capitalised on and the centre swept through to score a try.

Another Burton penalty reduced the deficit and kept Italy just two points behind Scotland in a topsy turvy encounter with neither side seizing control.

Scotland seemed to be on the threshold of securing a win, but replacement David Blair’s first act on the pitch was a pass that led to an interception try from Burton.

At this point, Scotland were running out of time and quick thinking from Blair led to the ball being dispatched across the line and Beattie tumbled through to score his second try of the night.

Unfortunately the resultant conversion attempt from Blair drifted narrowly wide of the target to leave both teams on level terms at the full time whistle.