year ago to the day, Scotland rounded off a disappointing Six Nations with a dismal defeat in Dublin at the end of a divisive week.
It ended with truculent media conferences as coach and captain tried to duck and dive their way through questioning about boozegate - or whatever it was called at the time.
Things look altogether different now. Sunnier. More optimistic. Italy took Scotland to a very dark place in the closing minutes at Murrayfield on Saturday, but they survived and prospered.
They were one defensive slip away from defeat, but held firm, broke out and scored a length-of-the-field try that guaranteed them third place in the Six Nations table behind the world number one and two.
It ended with truculent media conferences as coach and captain tried to duck and dive their way through questioning about boozegate - or whatever it was called at the time.
Things look altogether different now. Sunnier. More optimistic. Italy took Scotland to a very dark place in the closing minutes at Murrayfield on Saturday, but they survived and prospered.
They were one defensive slip away from defeat, but held firm, broke out and scored a length-of-the-field try that guaranteed them third place in the Six Nations table behind the world number one and two.