ITALIAN REACTION: TEAM AND MEDIA: PADDY AGNEWhears from coach Nick Mallett and winger Mirco Bergamasco, who believe Italy lacked the experience to control the match while the press point to a 'disorganised and tame Ireland'

“A Kick Where It Hurts Most”.

“What A Pity”.

“Those Cursed Three Minutes”.

In the wake of Ireland’s narrow win, Italian media headlines reflected the widespread sense of a glorious opportunity gone west.

"The great moments of Italian rugby are linked to the things that make up dreams which then vanish just at the best moment, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth," commented Turin daily La Stampa.

“Against Ireland, our opening Six Nations opponent and the side we have to beat in the World Cup next autumn in New Zealand, we played our usual very solid defensive game but we lost 11-13, even though we were dreaming of winning it at 11-10, with an extra man . . . and just three minutes to play.”

Many Italian commentators, while full of enthusiasm for the Azzurri performance, were surprised by the relative ineptitude of a “confused” Ireland. For Italian rugby, this was too good a chance (to win) to be true.

“To lose this way hurts. To lose this way really makes you angry . . . Ireland left the packed Flaminio Stadium as the winners, as always, six times out of six. . . The problem about all of this is that we’ve rarely seen such a disorganised and tame Ireland, one that lacks the killer instinct. The problem too is that you won’t see such an Ireland the next time we meet them in October in New Zealand (at the World Cup).”

The close-run nature of the game left many of the Italian squad torn between frustration at such a last-gasp defeat and pride in one of their best performances against Ireland.

Mirco Bergamasco, the Italian winger whose failure to convert fullback Luke McLean’s 75th-minute try denied the Italians the consolation of a draw, argued that the poor Irish performance was also due to the pressure exerted by Italy.

“Just think, if we had won this game – what a boost to morale and what a reward for a team that yet again gave it all. The only thing we did wrong was to mishandle the final five minutes.

“Perhaps we were too frenetic, perhaps a bit of inexperience, perhaps we made mistakes we could have avoided and maybe we were a bit unlucky.

“But we defended well and we were much more in the game than usual, just go and look at McLean’s try if you don’t believe me. Ireland made a lot of mistakes because we put them under pressure and made it difficult for them. We were the clear winners of the physical clash with Ireland.”

Italy’s South African coach Nick Mallett took the same attitude, underlining the many positives from the Italian viewpoint.

“It was a terrific game for us and I don’t want to hear people talking about mistakes. We’ve planted a few doubts in Irish minds with a view to the World Cup in October.

“We scored a great try with just five minutes left and our forward pack had a great game. Perhaps we were a bit tired at the end when we lacked the experience to control the match.”

While many commentators argued that Italo-Argentine outhalf Luciano Orquera, who came on as a late substitute, was both too hurried and too ambitious to have attempted a winning dropkick from far out in the last action of the game, Bergamasco refused to criticise him.

“No, no, leave Orquera alone. He had the guts to try and win the game with a drop kick. If it had gone over, you lot would be here singing his praises,” said Bergamasco.

On a gorgeously sunny Roman day, the final word must be left to the thousands of Italian fans at the packed stadium.

Among the many banners around the ground, there was one which read, “We Too Like Rugby”. Except that the “g” in rugby had been crossed out, leaving the banner to read “We Too Like Ruby”, a clear reference to Moroccan prostitute Karima “Ruby” El Mahroug, a central figure in the “Rubygate” sex scandal involving Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.