Six Nations, Riccioni sees positive: “Italy grown a lot”

A clear knockout, which does not erase Italrugby’s optimism.

Marco Riccioni was among the protagonists of the comeback with which Italy tried to straighten out the challenge with England at Twickenham, lost by the Azzurri with a final score of 31-14 despite his try. The feeling, however, is that the team’s path is the right one.

“In the second half we showed that we can do better than this,” explained Riccioni, referring to England’s 19-0 win in the first half. “We are capable of putting anyone under pressure, and from matches like this we have to learn as much as possible. Just make a comparison with the result two years ago to see how much we have grown.”

Riccioni then analyzed England’s performance against Italy: “In the first 20 minutes they played with a lot of eagerness, and perhaps there was also a few refereeing episodes against us. However, this is not an excuse to justify our defeat. Now we have to think only about Ireland and work to the best of our ability. Because we will be playing against the favorite, and we are already looking forward to taking the field.”