Lamaro pinpoints the cause of Benetton's slump in the URC standings

Benetton head into their fixture with Connacht in Treviso on Saturday in the United Rugby Championship looking to end a three-match losing streak which has seen them hurtle down the table.

The Italian outfit sat in second place in the league just a matter of weeks ago before losses to Leinster, Glasgow Warriors and most recently the Scarlets, leaving them in tenth place, level on points with Saturday's opponents.

During this period they have been without the bulk of the Italy internationals, who heavily contributed to the Azzurri squad during the Guinness Six Nations. Captain Michele Lamaro is a member of that contingent, who led his country over the last two months to a fifth-place finish in the Championship.

The flanker is expected to return to face Connacht alongside other Italy stars such as Ignacio Brex at the weekend. But while this lack of firepower would have damaged Benetton's cause, Lamaro feels there were other factors at play that contributed to their slump.

Speaking to his club recently, the 43-cap Italy international explained how Benetton's mentality changed from the beginning of the season.

While platitudes like 'taking one game at a time' or 'not focussing on the table' are bandied about in rugby, Lamaro honestly confessed that that has not been the case with his club. Whereas his side had no pressure at the beginning of the season, Lamaro explained how their ranking "took over", leading to a loss of momentum.

“Honestly I think there has been too much talk about the rankings," he said (translated by Google).

"In general we need to focus on our process and our daily life. It's what gave us so much confidence at the start of the championship, because we didn't have the pressure of the standings and we continued to do our best day after day.

"As soon as the ranking situation took over, we lost sight a little of having to score points every match and the focus on winning every time we take the field, or in any case trying not to lose. This then led us to lose the momentum we had taken. Now we have to face match after match, aware that it will be a battle to the last blow. Every single situation can make a difference."