Italy must be strong against Ireland
at the Olimpico Saturday and put behind them their 73-24 tonking
by France in Rome and a 47-24 pummelling by England at
Twickenham in their last two Six Nations matches, new skipper
Ignacio 'Nacho' Brex said Friday.
The Azzurri will be looking to avoid the Wooden Spoon while the
Irish have a very slim hope of three-repeating the Six Nations
title, hoping against hope that Scotland can upset the mighty
French in Paris and Wales do the same against England in
Cardiff.
"We have to enjoy these days by giving our best," said centre
Brex, who has taken over the captaincy after flanker Michele
Lamaro was dropped to the bench following the England defeat.
"And we have to show that we are not happy with what we have
done in the last two games, we have to bring out our pride.
"We have spoken among ourselves and worked a lot on defense,
taking 120 points in two games is not nice.
"We have focused on improving compared to the past weeks and we
will have to give it our all on the field tomorrow".
Speaking about the perception of Italy abroad, after its wins
over Wales and Scotland and unlucky draw against France last
year, its best ever showing, Brex then underlined how "this year
maybe they talk about an Italy that hasn't managed to get
results, last year the media would have talked about a new
Italy.
"It's difficult to understand why one time we do very well and
another time badly.
"We're also working on this, we're trying to be a consistent and
strong Italy both tomorrow and in the future", he continued.
Finally, the Italo-Argentine gave a thought on how to play with
Ireland, a team that "wants to keep the ball.
"We are a team that never backs down, we've made several missed
tackles in the last few games that pay the price at this level.
"We'll have to sort out the defense and be consistent going
forward if we want to compete. "For me it's the first time as
captain in the Six Nations, tomorrow is the last at home, at the
Olimpico, and it will be a great emotion.
"At this moment my job is to transmit calm to the team and bring
a lot of energy onto the pitch", he concluded.
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