The Albany Gazette - Italy confident they can bounce back at Nations Championship

They head home after a gruelling tour in which they leaked 131 points across three Tests, with their defence repeatedly sliced open.

After crashing 27-10 in Tokyo to Japan, they were humbled 47-17 by the All Blacks at Wellington then thrashed 57-10 by Australia in Perth.

They have now lost six of their last seven games, with the only success against England during the Six Nations.

"We had a lot of problems defensively, and in various areas of the pitch we also took too long to find solutions," Lamaro said of the Australia rout.

"Every time they got inside the 22, it became incredibly difficult to defend.

"We can consider various factors, but the only answers we can find are within ourselves.

"Unfortunately, we don't have the ability to be competitive. It only takes one time for us to fall slightly short of our standards, especially in terms of physicality, and we pay for that."

Against Australia, Italy made just one clean break while missing 43 tackles and conceding 12 penalties.

They were under-strength with experienced lock Niccolo Cannone serving a suspension and fullback Tommaso Allan (foot) and No.8 Lorenzo Cannone (back) returned home early.

Superstar duo Ange Capuozzo and Giacomo Nicotera did not make the trip after long seasons with their respective club sides in France.

Lamaro said there had been some positive signs at the Six Nations and he was confident Italy would come good again.

"After being in this group for a few years, I've realised that it's not that difficult for us to bounce back after negative periods," he said. "Pride always helps us come up with a response."

(K.Lee--TAG)