Assistant coach Dan McFarland admitted Scotland will need to be more clinical in attack if they are reach the level of Grand Slam contenders Ireland.
The Irish beat Scotland 28-8 in Dublin on Saturday and were crowned NatWest 6 Nations champions later that day when England succumbed to France.
Click here for the complete 2018 NatWest 6 Nations fixture list
Despite their hopes of a third straight championship win being dashed, McFarland took encouragement from the way Scotland performed in Ireland.
However, he said Scotland’s inability to make the most of their attacking opportunities ultimately proved their undoing in Ireland.
“I think it was pretty clear what went wrong in the game,” he said. “We had a number of opportunities we didn’t take.
“If you go to Dublin and face a team with the quality of Ireland and don’t take opportunities then you are always going to up against it, and that’s what happened.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Ireland, they’re one of the top teams in the world winning that many games at home in the NatWest 6 Nations.
“They’re very difficult to beat at home and, although we created opportunities for ourselves, we just didn’t take them and we’re all disappointed in that.”
McFarland added: “Ireland have won four of their games so far, they’re going for a Grand Slam next weekend. They’re the level that the rest of us in the Six Nations are aspiring to.”
Scotland now turn their attention to Italy in Rome this Saturday (kick-off 12.30pm GMT) in the final round of the 2018 championship as they look to add to victories over France and England.
Click here to view the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations table after four rounds
McFarland said the team are fully aware of the threats posed by the hosts and will be completely focused on finishing the tournament on a high.
He said: “It’s about winning a Test match. It’s about winning our third game in the Championship, focusing on going to Italy and playing against a proud nation, who desperately want to win a match in the Championship this year.
“We are fully aware that this is another NatWest 6 Nations game and everybody knows how competitive it has been so far, and we see a stern test ahead of us.
“There are threats there and we’re fully aware of them.
“They have a good tradition of forward play, something that is at the forefront of my mind [as forwards coach] and they’ve got some class players. We’ll have our eyes firmly on the ball, there.”
