Italy head coach Kieran Crowley felt that yesterday’s performance was a major step forward for his team, despite the Azzurri suffering their 36 consecutive Six Nations defeat. However, he also expressed disappointment that much of his players’ good work was undone by defensive lapses. 

“It was probably the area which let us down,” he said. “In our last two games we’ve defended really well but we missed too many one-on-one tackles out there today, which allowed them to win the advantage line. 

“We conceded two tries from counterattack and two tries from turnovers so that just wasn’t good enough. That’s an area we will certainly have to look at. We dominated filed position but couldn’t make that count on the scoreboard. 

“On the flip side, I thought our attack was a lot better today, we played the game in the right areas – but you have to get a combination of attack and defence, and we didn’t manage to find that balance. 

“The really pleasing thing is that we did get periods when we were trying to play from an attack perspective and hopefully that can take us forward from a confidence point of view, and hopefully we can build on in our next game against Wales, then through the summer and autumn internationals, so that when we come to next year’s Six Nations we’ve got players who have all that experience from another eight or nine Test matches under their belts. 

“I’d also say that a couple of bounces didn’t go our way out there today, and you’ve got to have the rub of the green at times as well – but that’s the nature of the game. 

Ange Cupuozzo scored two late tries on his debut off the bench and Crowley pointed out that the 22-year-old’s contribution provides further evidence to support is belief that better days lie ahead for Italy. 

“The most pleasing thing for me is that his first action was a missed tackle, and his second action was a ball he dropped, but he bounced back from that,” said the New Zealander. “From a mental hardness perspective, that was very promising. 

“He has pace, which he demonstrated today, and finished off two very good team tries, so he can be very pleased with his day’s work.” 

“It was great to see the under-20s win with a dominant performance against Scotland on Friday night, and they have a chance to finish third in their Six Nations if they beat Wales nest week, so the structure is there to help progress the young players we have coming through.”