Italy will hurt 'more than ever' after France defeat - O'Shea

As Italy ended the Six Nations without a victory, having squandered big chances against France, Conor O'Shea acknowledged their hurt.

 

 

Conor O'Shea says Italy will be hurting "more than ever" after passing up several chances in their Six Nations defeat to France.

The Azzurri ended the campaign with five losses from five matches but should have capitalised on numerous opportunities in the 25-14 reverse at the hands of Les Bleus on Saturday.

Debutant Marco Zanon was particularly guilty of passing up chances and Italy were made to pay.

Coach O'Shea praised his side's mentality yet acknowledged that this latest Rome defeat was particularly painful for his side.

"It's really difficult, really difficult for the guys," he told ITV Sport. "We'll dust ourselves down and say that, a lot of the time in this Six Nations, we've given a huge amount.

"The competitiveness of this squad is going forward through all the things, but we should have won today. We had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. We showed fight.

"We didn't execute - that's the bottom line. But if we continue to play with that level of intensity, it'll come. At the moment, wow, it's hard."