BBC reporter and former Scotland international John Beattie returns from Rome after a humbling defeat by Italy.

I hate spaghetti.

Let me remind you: To date, Scotland have never won a game at senior level in Italy.

And that record can't be broken for another two years.

Diego Dominguez sets an all-time record for scoring in a Five or Six Nations game.

John Leslie is picked as captain of Scotland after having been taken off the pitch three months ago, goes through an operation on his ankle, doesn't play for three months, but gets picked as captain.

He lasts 13 minutes before a hip injury forces him from the pitch.

Scotland score two tries to one but still lose, probably thanks to Kenny Logan missing four kicks at goal. Oh, happy, happy days.

Aye, what it is to be favourites. What it is to be favourites and then lose.

Chewed up and spat out

In one, horrible, pasta-filled moment then, Scotland came crashing down to earth.

If there is life in Rome then it isn't eternal for the Scots who played al dente and not like the tough chaps who won the championships last year. Just a bit of bite, but not half enough.

Carbonarra might be a better word - pale, sludgy and creamy.

They were followed to the ground by some 8,000 kilted rugby fans who were intent on calling on the Pope and having a wee dip in the Fontana de Trevi.

We have been told that 21,000 English fans have applied for tickets.

Let me tell you, go, you will have a great time, and England will stuff Italy.

Scotland blew it. Oh, how they blew it. They could have won.

The fact of the matter is that Scotland were terrible. Diego Dominguez couldn't miss the eye of a needle, Kenny Logan, poor bloke, couldn't hit a barn door.

No self-belief

Personally speaking, I thought that many of our players didn't look as though they believed they were going to win.

It was such a lacklustre start to the game, where the Italians actually began weakly and became stronger. Scotland began weakly and were soon rushed to intensive care.

So what went wrong? Maybe the Scots believed the pre-match hype that they had turned the corner.

There was a picture all over the Scottish papers on Saturday which showed two of the team tucking into spaghetti, and they had big smiles on their faces.

That was naïve, in that you mustn't give the opposition any advantage.

What's more likely is that Brad Johnstone, the New Zealander coaching Italy has brought discipline to the championship new-boys.

They played a simple game, and he told me in the tunnel afterwards: "We decided to get the ball down the pitch, we weren't going to try to show any magic out there." So, it was no Magic Johnstone then?

Poor travellers

Someone, one day, will do a full analysis of how human beings can play like proud patriots in their own stadium - let us call it Murrayfield for argument's sake - and yet they can play like girl guides in a foreign field - in this instance let us call it the Stadio Flaminio in Rome.

The Scots had the wrong body language, they looked weak, uncomfortable, and played the game in front of the Italians while the Italians kicked over their heads and turned the Scots.

Up front Tom Smith and Martin Leslie got stuck in alongside try-scorer Gordon Bulloch.

Behind them Bryan Redpath and Gregor Townsend linked well, and Glenn Metcalfe did his level best.

Apart from them the Scots were under pressure with Italy stronger in the crucial forward exchanges and great defenders in midfield.

We now have two weeks to find a solution, with the reality being that Scotland can't win the Five Nations, beat New Zealand in the second half, and then suddenly become the worst team on the planet.

This is not an appalling team and there aren't hundreds of other players.

My own small protest is that I am now not eating any Italian food for a year. Well, every little helps erase this memory.