Sergio Parisse put personal achievements to one side after his Italy side fell to an opening day defeat to Scotland in the Guinness Six Nations.
The Azzurri finished strongly at BT Murrayfield with three tries in the last ten minutes, but Scotland had dominated up to that point on their way to a 33-20 victory.
That took some gloss off a landmark day for Parisse, who became the all-time leading appearance maker in the Guinness Six Nations, setting a new mark of 66, one clear of Brian O’Driscoll.
But for the veteran No.8, the focus was very much on Italy and trying to recover from a tough afternoon.
He said: “It’s a very good personal achievement, but now I’m just trying to go forward and enjoy this tournament and give my best.
“Now I’m a little bit frustrated about this defeat, but every time you keep working and keep positive, so for me it’s important to think about the next game against Wales.
“If we had the possession we are dangerous; we can score tries. I think Scotland deserved the win; they dominated the game, had a lot of possession – more than us – so of course the last ten minutes is a good base to work on for the game next week against Wales.”
Italy return to Rome for next week’s clash with Wales, and will take confidence from tries from Guglielmo Palazzani, Edoardo Padovani and Angelo Esposito.
And for Parisse, the key to the encounter at the Stadio Olimpico will be playing the game in the right areas, having just 30 percent territory in the first half.
He added: “It’s a different challenge, but of course we want to keep the ball. We let Scotland have the possession in the first half and defended a lot.
“It’s good to defend, but you can’t defend all the time. For the next game against Wales we want to work on our possession and of course a couple of mistakes – today we conceded maybe one or two easy tries.”
