Kirwin confident ahead of Twickers test

John Kirwan believes the side he will send out against England in a fortnight’s time will possess the best chance an Italy team has ever had of gaining a result at Twickenham.

The All Blacks legend feels the progress he has made as Azzurri coach means they will travel to face Andy Robinson’s evolving side – also winless in the RBS 6 Nations – with genuine confidence.

Kirwan expressed those sentiments despite Italy succumbing to their third successive championship defeat in 2005 at Murrayfield, where Scotland secured a grim 18-10 victory thanks to six penalties from Chris Paterson.

The Edinburgh man was flawless with his kicking, unlike Roland de Marigny and Luciano Orquera, whose profligacy with the boot proved costly for Italy who failed to take advantage of their first-half dominance.

The Azzurri’s performance in the opening period proved they were more than a match for Scotland, having already given grand slam-chasing Ireland an exacting start to their campaign in Rome.

Combined with the fact Italy have managed to avoid the wooden spoon on three of the occasions they have competed in the Six Nations, Kirwan believes his side are now established in the championship – albeit with work still to do.

The cerebral Kiwi, articulate in both English and Italian, said: “I was very pleased with how we played in the first half in Scotland, that showed what we can do now.

“We didn’t make it count though and missing penalties was costly. We should have gone in at half-time ahead but we didn’t and when it went to 12-3 we lost a bit of confidence.

“But we are definitely making progress – although so is everyone else. We have just got to pick ourselves up and work hard for the England game.

“I was gutted after the Scotland game and so were the players, but with the first half in that game and the match against Ireland – which I felt was our best effort so far – it has to be encouraging. Unfortunately we lost a bit of focus and mental strength when they edged further in front and the tactical side in that situation is something we need to look at.”

But Kirwan, a devastating winger with the dominant All Blacks team of the late 1980s, believes this improvement will come in time.

“We need to learn to be a stronger and a better team for 80 minutes and not just for 40 or 45 minutes. We need to be more mature. Our game was not together in the second half and that was disappointing while Scotland had someone like Chris Paterson who missed nothing. We tried to come back but it was too late.”