Italy captain Michele Lamaro praised his side’s dogged defence as they earned a first-ever win over England on Saturday.
Italy hit back from 18-10 down early in the second half of the Six Nations match to beat England 23-18 in front of almost 69,000 fans in Rome.
Tries from Tommaso Menoncello and Leonardo Marin, plus 13 points from the boot of flyhalf Paolo Garbisi, cancelled out England scored from Tommy Freeman and Tom Roebuck.
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“We felt tension before the game as we were nervous,” Lamaro told ITV.
“We were close the whole game. We fought together as always. We stuck together as a wall in defence.”
In a match which was close throughout, there was little to separate the two sides, but discipline made the difference with England picking up two yellow cards to Italy’s one.
“Credit to Italy, who have come a long way,” England coach Steve Borthwick told ITV.
“We are gutted. For 60 minutes, we are in control and those two sin-bins hurt us.
“Discipline is a significant factor. It is something we have to improve.”
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The two England yellow cards, which came shortly after Italy hooker Giacomo Nicotera was sent to the sin-bin, turned the game in the Azzurri’s favour.
“It is disappointing. I think it is on us as players – we have to own the performance,” captain Maro Itoje, who was yellow-carded alongside flanker Sam Underhill, told BBC radio.
“This team has put together good performances over the past year, but recently we haven’t.
“We have to face the facts and get back to work.”
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
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