For Italy coach Jacques Brunel it seems a case of back to the drawing board.
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After Duncan Weir’s last-gasp drop goal sealed a 21-20 victory for Scotland, Italy have now lost three matches in a row and sit bottom of the RBS 6 Nations table.
They travel to Dublin next Saturday and face an Ireland side currently top of the pile and while Italy have again won many admirers in the Championship, they are yet to collect any points.
Against Wales in Cardiff they impressed, Michele Campagnaro standing out with two tries, and they stood toe-to-toe with France for large parts in Paris.
Back on home soil they were on top in the first half against Scotland and led 13-3 at the break, and after letting Scotland back into it, Joshua Furno’s 70th-minute try, converted by Luciano Orquera, put the Azzurri 20-18 ahead.
But Weir pinched victory for Scotland and Brunel vowed to leave no stone unturned as he leads the inquest into another defeat.
“We need to analyse exactly what happened. We have to react before our next two matches and look for the positive aspects in defeat,” he said.
“I think that our defence, compared with the November tests, has made good progress.
“It’s a step back from the games with Wales and France. We had a quality defence, but we are still behind in the ability to impose our game. And unfortunately there were numerous handling errors.
“We must analyse why, especially in the second half against Scotland, we could hardly ever to come out of our 22 and the reason why, five minutes from the end, we were not able to control the advantage.”
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