Head coach Conor O’Shea is buoyed by Italy’s potential following their 20-18 win over Canada.
O’Shea succeeded Jacques Brunel following the 2016 RBS 6 Nations and began life in the hot-seat overseeing a narrow 30-24 defeat to Argentina earlier this month.
But they bounced back with a 24-20 victory over United States then followed up with a win against Canada, forward Ornel Gega scoring the game’s only try.
And O’Shea is content with what he has witnessed from his troops.
“I know we have the talent, but there is a lot of hard work to be done,” he said.
“We’re at the beginning of a journey and after my first month here and seeing the team spirit I am even more excited than when I arrived.
“I am proud of the young guys even though mistakes have been made, our confidence is on the up and we have five guys who have won their first caps in recent weeks.
“They have learnt a lot on how to react to victory after beating United States and Canada.
“Gega, [Sami] Panico, [Pietro] Ceccarelli have all done well in the scrum, [Lorenzo] Cittadini celebrated with a victory his fifty caps.
“[Andrea] Lovotti is a truly brilliant rugby player, Sami Panico can become one of the best props in Europe.
“He had a good impact when he came on, but he now has to work on his fitness so he is able to last 80 minutes.”