Italy's rugby team believe the fright they got from Romania in Wednesday's tight World Cup victory will help them finally find their best form.
Italy looked a shadow of themselves in their opening 76-14 bashing from the All Blacks and they continued to struggle as Romania opened up a surprising lead before the Azzurri recovered for a 24-18 win.
"It was quite a jolt looking up at the scoreboard and seeing us 8-12 down in the seventh minute of the second half," admitted flanker and captain Marco Bortolami.
"We really felt the pressure again but I think the worst is over and we can finally kick into high gear now," said the Gloucester captain.
Stade Francaise centre Mirco Bergamasco agreed, saying "we knew we had to pick up the pace and we did".
It turned out OK, even though they were more aggressive than us," he added, voicing confidence that "we'll soon start playing good rugby".
Veteran Treviso scrum-half Alessandro Troncon, whose entry in place of Calvisano's Paul Griffen in that scary 47th minute was seen as a turning-point, said: "I tried to keep the boys calm and keep things simple".
"I never thought we would lose, and now we can work things out and beat Portugal too," said Troncon, who won his 99th cap against the Romanians.
Coach Pierre Berbizier admitted that he still had to see his team perform as he knows they can.
Praising Aviron Bayonnais fly-half Ramiro Pez for his match-winning kicking, Berbizier said: "We knew it was going to be tough against Romania but the important thing was to win".
Berbizier said he was confident of beating Portugal next Friday so as to set up a qualification showdown against Scotland ten days later.
Italy has never met Portugal in the World Cup but they trounced them 83-0 in the qualifying campaign for this year's tournament.
The former France fly-half said his main worries were injuries to Griffen, Biarritz lock Santiago Dellape' and Arix Viadana flanker Josh Sole.
"I'll be able to tell you more after they've had tests but I'm afraid their World Cup could be over," he said.
