Italy center Mirco Bergamasco is ready for Saturday's match in Dublin against Ireland and wants a good Six Nations tournament in order compensate for last year's disappointing World Cup.
Taking a break from training, the Stade Francais player said ''everyone in the team wants to get back there on the field and forget the disappointment of the World Cup''.
''Tears come to my eyes every time I think about that match against Scotland. But it's time to move on,'' he added.
Italy last September narrowly failed in its bid to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time when it lost to Scotland by two points after a late penalty drifted wide.
Looking ahead to Saturday's match at Croke Park, Bergamasco said ''Ireland hasn't changed that much from the World Cup but we want to beat them. We're going to be focused on our playing in this match and all the others up through March 15''.
Italy's first target is to equal its best-ever Six Nations result of last year, when it finished fourth after winning two games, against Wales and Scotland, including its first triumph away from home, in Edinburgh.
''We're going to try to not let anyone down because there is such growing interest in the game. This year we've got a younger team and that's an improvement. We get better day-by-day,'' Bergamasco said.
Former Italy scrum-half Alessandro Troncon, who retired from playing after the World Cup and is a member of the Italy staff, predicted on Monday that Ireland ''will try to give us trouble from the start using their physical advantage. But we can match them''.
''I remember how we almost beat them in Dublin two years ago and in a test match last summer in Belfast. This time we'll try harder,'' Troncon added.
If Italy wants to beat Ireland, ''it needs to play more ruthless rugby'', according to its new coach Nick Mallett.
''Italy has great attacking potential, but I want to see it play more ruthlessly in order to make inroads into opposition defences,'' the former Springboks coach said after announcing his squad for the Ireland match.
Mallett, who took over from France legend Pierre Berbizier after the World Cup, believes the match will be especially tough because of Ireland's desire to bounce back from their disappointing campaign in France last September.
''Ireland is coming off a World Cup that went rather badly and will want to make up for that,'' said Mallett, who had a record-equalling 17-match winning streak with South Africa.
''What's more, the Irish clubs are doing well in the European cup competitions so I think it's going to be a particularly hard match for us in Dublin,'' he added.
After their debut at Croke Park, Italy host England in Rome on February 10, travel to Cardiff on February 23 and Paris on March 9, and end their campaign at home to Scotland on March 15.
