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'The hard part is it's an unbelievable toll we took out there, in terms of physicality and mentally'
By Peter Thompson
Conor O'Shea says Italy are still a long way from the summit of "the biggest mountain" after they were beaten 26-16 by Ireland in the Six Nations.
The Azzurri threatened to pull off a sensational upset at Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, going in at half-time with a deserved 16-12 lead.
Edoardo Padovani and Luca Morisi touched down to cancel out tries from Quinn Roux and Jacob Stockdale, while Tommaso Allan was on target with two penalties as Italy threw everything at the defending champions in the first half.
Italy were unable to avoid a 20th consecutive defeat in the tournament as Ireland ground it out in the second half, tries from Keith Earls and Conor Murray giving Ireland a bonus-point win.
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Ian McKinley missed a last-gasp kick at goal for a losing bonus point, but O'Shea was proud of his players after they gave his country of birth a scare in Rome.
"The players are a pleasure to be around. The hard part is it's an unbelievable toll we took out there, in terms of physicality and mentally." said the Italy head coach.
"There's a real belief in what we're doing but we also know it's the biggest mountain you could ever get.
"I said after the first two games that for the first time we feel we're properly climbing, but there's a long way to go on the climb."
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Latest Comments
ALB has had many a start in big matches for ABs and has never put his stamp on the game Tupaea got the start in 22 against Ireland before injured and he struggled a tad too neither had outstanding SR seasons one thing Jordie an Reiko ain’t leaking breaks and tries at all in multiple big games
Go to commentsI’ll see how Aus go against Scotland and Ireland!
They have beaten the worst Welsh side ever and pipped England in OT
They do look attractive to watch I admit but got smashed by the Welsh scrum last week
Look at the areas of focus for Razor and Ryan
Huge player development in the ABs and ABs XV
One might argue that the only scrum more dominant is the Boks? And that wasn’t clear in SA until the bomb squad came on
The bench has been somewhat rectified since then
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