Italy captain Michele Lamaro: 'We’re getting there'

Michele Lamaro believes Italy are steadily progressing but he will not be getting carried away by their spirited display away to France last time out until he sees evidence that they can back it up.

The Azzurri go into Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations match at home to Scotland buoyed by drawing 13-13 with Les Bleus in Lille a fortnight ago – and they would have pulled off an historic victory if Paolo Garbisi’s last-gasp penalty had not come back off a post.

However, captain Lamaro has endured enough false dawns while representing Italy to ensure he maintains a degree of caution amid the growing excitement that has played a part in 70,000 tickets being snapped up for the Stadio Olimpico clash.

“We managed to draw in France, but the previous week we had been on the floor after losing 36-0 to Ireland,” pointed out the Benetton back-rower.

“The perception is that one week we are heroes, the next we are a word that it’s probably better I don’t say.

“Those perceptions do not reflect reality. There are always going to be highs and lows in a team’s journey, but I believe we are heading in the right direction.

“We are growing little by little and we certainly have more chance of winning a game now than was the case two years ago or even last year.

“But we need to remember that before the game against Wales last year (a 29-17 home defeat), we were having more or less the same conversation.

“And then in the game, we saw that there were still many things that we needed to improve.

“It’s not something that happens overnight, we need to grow slowly and never get carried away, because every time we have got carried away and believed ourselves to be on the verge of taking that next step forward, we’ve always found ourselves with our face on the floor.

“If we want to be competitive and cause difficulties for other teams, we need to fight with everything that is in us and put the best version of ourselves on the field.

“That’s not always easy, because being at 100 per cent in every game is something that probably no athlete can ever achieve.

“But it’s when you get to a stage where you being at 95 per cent is enough to beat other teams, that’s when you start to achieve important results.

“We’re getting there. We’re heading in the right direction.”

Italy have failed to win any of their last 13 matches against Scotland although they were in contention for victory at Murrayfield a year ago before Blair Kinghorn’s late try for the hosts killed them off.

“We’ve known for a long time that Scotland are one of the best teams in the world, and in this Six Nations they’ve given yet more proof of this,” said Lamaro.

“They are a team who play an attractive brand of rugby that is difficult to defend. We need to stay together and try to put them under pressure.

“We know that if we play to our best level, we can compete in this game.”