Six Nations 2016: Scotland win in Italy could spark run, says Ford

Ross Ford has been capped 96 times for Scotland

Hooker Ross Ford believes a win over Italy could set Scotland off on a roll of wins.

Vern Cotter's team have yet to win a match in this season's Six Nations and have lost their last nine games in the competition.

But Ford, 31, is confident the Scots can cope with the physicality of the Italians in Rome on 27 February.

"They're physical but we back ourselves if we perform well and we did do that in parts down in Wales," he said.

"If we perform with that intensity, we give ourselves a great opportunity to put some breathing space between us."

Scotland lost 27-23 in Cardiff on Saturday, a week after going down 15-9 to England at Murrayfield. They face France at home then Ireland, away, in the final two rounds of this year's championship.

"We were in it for large parts of the game [in Wales]," said Ford. "It's frustrating for us not to get the result we wanted.

"It was there for us for the taking but the performance was better than against England and now we just have to make sure that we keep developing that and get a result across in Italy and start a roll of victories out of that one."

Italy opened with a narrow 23-21 defeat in France and then lost 40-9 at home to England on Sunday.

"Italy - they're a very competitive team and they showed that against England, stuck with them for the majority of the game and it was only at the very end that England managed to score some points," added Edinburgh forward Ford.

"But we know that if we can perform well and get areas of our game right, we'll put ourselves in a really good position when it comes to the business end at the end of the game.

"If they stay in the game, the longer the game goes on, the more they become harder to put away."