John Barclay says Scotland won't change their brand of rugby in their final Six Nations match with Italy in Rome on Saturday.

The captain, who was part of the Scotland line-ups defeated twice at the Stadio Olimpico in 2010 and 2012, expects a fierce response from the Italians as the Azzurri look to avoid a whitewash.

The Scots were defeated 28-8 in Ireland last Saturday, with several handling errors contributing to the heavy loss, but Barclay believes they are playing in the right way.

The 31-year-old said: "We won't change the way we want to play and we haven't really spoken about last week's mistakes.

"OK, we made three big mistakes under pressure last week, but what we've looked at this week is the fact we put ourselves in good positions.

"So we're going to stick with the brand of rugby. It's not changed since the autumn and that's the way we want to play.

"We've been on a bit of a journey under Vern Cotter and now under Gregor Townsend. There has been bit of transition in terms of how we play."

The Dark Blues have had a mixed campaign. They won both home ties against France and England but suffered heavy defeats on the road to Wales and Ireland, and Barclays is hoping to make it three wins out of five on Saturday.

Barclay said: "We've been a little bit up and down. We started poorly, had some good highs and some not-so-good lows.

"We'll finish where we finish but we'd like to end with three wins out of five and go out on a high.

"But we know how hard it is [to compete in the Six Nations]. Italy have evolved a bit under [coach] Conor O'Shea.

"They have shown glimpses of what they are capable of.

"They are playing a slightly different brand of rugby and have some fantastic players across the board. They have good guys up front with power and a sprinkling of stardust elsewhere.