Quesada warns Italy must keep improving

The Azzurri go into the Guinness Six Nations second-round tie sniffing a first victory on Irish soil since 1997.

Head coach Gonzalo Quesada during an Italy Rugby captain's run at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada has warned his in-form side to stay focused on their need to continue improving as they look to build on their victory over Scotland with a repeat performance against Ireland on Saturday.

The Azzurri go into the Guinness Six Nations second-round tie at Aviva Stadium sniffing a first victory on Irish soil since a 37-29 January 1997 victory at Lansdowne Road. It was a result which would help advance their claims to make the championship a six-team affair, a status confirmed three years later.

Andy Farrell’s Ireland of 2026 are by no means a reflection of the team which preceded them 29 years ago but are coming into this fixture on the back of a 36-14 schooling by France in Paris nine days ago. The Italians, by contrast, have developed at a rate of knots under the guidance of former Argentina fly-half Quesada, who has transformed a team which did not win a Six Nations game for seven years into a unit no one can take lightly.

The Scots discovered that in Rome last Saturday, as torrential rain fell on Stadio Olimpico throughout. The conditions made not a jot of difference to Italy as they raced into a 12-0 lead after 14 minutes and then prevented Gregor Townsend’s men from snatching a late victory with a superbly disciplined defensive stand for their 18-15 win.

Following on from a November success over Australia in Udine, the win has sent expectations soaring for the 2026 championship, though Quesada is attempting to keep his team on an even keel.

"It's nice to raise expectations, to make calculations, to think about future results,” Quesada said. “This happens when you sense that great results are possible, but we know where we still need to improve and we must keep our feet on the ground."

Italy captain and back-rower Michele Lamaro is similarly level-headed, though he acknowledged his players’ increasing Test rugby smarts and experience to defeat Scotland.

“It's yet another demonstration of our maturity,” Lamaro said. “The players who had been used less often performed very well. We showed great character. We never let the expectations placed on us influence us.

“There are more experienced players, because I think that to play a game like the one from last Saturday it is necessary to have many players on the field who can recognise the situations and find solutions in a really short time frame.

“And that's what was the difference in my opinion, adapting to the rain in a quicker way compared to Scotland, knowing that the first 20 minutes would have been crucial and executing those first 20 at 100 per cent.

“All this comes from mainly from experience, and managing the game in the second half, which is an important aspect and not always so simple to implement.

“So yeah, it's definitely a team that is gaining experience and it makes a huge difference.”