Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada and captain Michele Lamaro speak after 36-0 defeat to Ireland.
Gonzalo did arand do anything today to surprise you compared to how you were prepared this week oh that’s uh it’s a bit what we said in the dressing room especially at halftime they needed they didn’t need to do nothing special just going through their their system their attack they
Were always on the front foot and after several phases we were kind of waiting for them is a big lines of the first half it was not always like that sometimes we defend better sometimes we had good ball sometimes we the first half what was a bit different than the
Second but I think until when they got those 19 points of difference then is when they is like the old black some years ago they just go through their their Basics and because they they had 100% of the lineup 100% of the squad uh 100% of the high bols so and then they
Just work uh their rcks in attack and defend with extreme efficiency so now there was nothing uh we expect that level of performance they did what we know they can do the frustration is more that we couldn’t uh uh put a bit more pressure on them like uh like we
Wanted would you accept that it’s very hard for your team to put pressure on when you’re on the back foot the whole time and it’s just unrented yeah yeah it’s first half was like that especially that um we we were surprised because we we did it much better against England so
It’s not like we know that we can do it and we know that we have the players with the capacity of doing it a bit more in the first half and uh the result is that in the second half it was much better and was we have to analyze the
Game because we all after the games we stay with this images Global images and I agree even with what Mitch said is it’s tough to say because you just lost by 40 points or 30 we lost less than front at home but uh it’s true that uh
There were a lot of moments in this game and in second half we were not that much on our back foot we defend better but then is a game of rugby about also putting pressure with the court and we never forced Ireland to to to to put
Their defense Under Pressure so then you get a bit of frustration and and we when never put get into the game it was not always on the back foot I thinkk ash from off the ball how tough is results like that to take after it’s been such good progress in itag over the
Last number of years yeah it’s hard it’s hard it’s it’s like U what mik was saying and I was speaking with a couple of the leaders at the beginning of the week they said what happens a lot thought is that we do a good performance and then the next one is
Tough and we had bad results depending on how good the other team play but um the bad results happen so we Tred to talk about it we worked on it we we prepare the week well but it’s tough to see well that there was not a two we
Miracle like we’ve been working together for three weeks now one week what two days and two weeks so of course uh um we want things to to move faster we want things to to change um again with this level of Ireland I don’t know how many
Teams can beat them in the world today so I’m not talking about winning or losing I’m talking I think where your question goes is to to feel a bit more of improvement what is uh really hard today for me is knowing how they worked how they prepare the game what they showed
We we don’t lie to ourselves we are we know that we have some limits but we also know when we work more or less and we work well so for a coach the the hardest part is when you feel that the guys are doing the effort they’re trying hard they’re doing what is
Supposed to be done on the week and then we cannot put it a bit more on the pitch a lot of a lot of that is thanks to the good performance of of Ireland but um it’s a bit hard but well it’s uh the good news is we have an opportunity
Of playing again huge game away against a huge team so we have another opportunity of not throwing to the bin all the work that is done is been done all over these last three weeks and maybe we’re going to express something Sim more close to what we can do on
Against France last question please Gonzalo you you spoke before the tournament about uh Team DNA and especially in attack I think we all know Italy are a team that more so than most in the Six Nations like to move move the ball wide um but this season I know it’s
Only two games you’re also kicking the ball ball more in open play but you’re not necessarily getting the same territory from that and then when you do go wide I didn’t understand the Italian but you said Li to be the lot so when guessing when you go wide you’re getting
Shut down a little bit does it feel like you’re caught between two different ways you’re trying to become a bit more pragmatic and kick more while also the wide attack is is suffering a little bit no honestly today there was so we didn’t have a lot of balls to compare
What we could do better I think uh I think what we what the players feel that is improving and what they are happy about is that they can exit a bit better they can handle better the the the moments where the the team is a bit under pressure without only having to
Move the ball away because in the last games of the last cycle it was becoming a bit they were getting under pressure trying to to play from everywhere but to play from everywhere you need to to have a bit the ball so today is tough to answer to that question because um we
Didn’t have any pH attack when I talk about line speed was more about our line speed in my Italian don’t worry any even Italians I don’t think it were it was clear enough in my Italian but I was talking about that we lacked of blind speeding our defense the defense of
Ireland is is extremely hard on on the Rock Zone and they they put so much pressure that they they they slow down every ball so we knew it before the game we prepar for that but what that’s why they are the best in the world you you
Know what’s coming and they you prepare yourself but then they can do it but I don’t think uh I’m convinced on and I think the players too but we’re going to talk about it I’m convinced of what we’re trying to do and how we want to
Play today was not in the pitch but I think if we achieve a bit more to get close to what we’re trying to do continuing with the DNA of attack but with with uh with a bit more pragmatic situations using more our kicking aame and attacking g a bit a bit better we
Will make ourself give oursel more chances in into into the games that only running from from everywhere in the pitch