Sergio Parisse returned from injury to inspire his Italian squad to its best performance so far in the Rugby World Cup, a narrow loss to Six Nations champion Ireland.
The Italians were hoping for an upset at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday, but in the wash-up the result amounted to a pair of regular occurrences: A gutsy showing, guided by Parisse at No. 8, and another pool-stage exit.
"It was a missed opportunity of course," Italy coach Jacques Brunel said, reflecting on a missed try and a failure to convert pressure into points in a 16-9 loss. "We have the ability to challenge teams and we would like to be a main player in a match. We would like to prove we can play at this level, and that it is not a fluke."
Italy has been to every Rugby World Cup, but has never advanced beyond the pool stage. After opening with a 32-10 loss to three-time finalist France, Italy struggled at times before holding off Canada 23-18 at Leeds. That meant the Italians needed to win their last two games to stay in quarterfinal contention from a pool containing half of the countries that form the Six Nations.
The 32-year-old Parisse added experience, skill and passion to the Italian pack against Ireland, finally appearing at his fourth World Cup and lifting his tally of test caps to 115.
"It's true that his presence, his leadership of the squad, his technique, add something to the squad," Brunel said. "We saw it today. Even if he is not at 100 per cent, the impact that he has on the squad is truly positive."
His influence wasn't enough, though, for Italy to repeat its upset win over the Irish in 2013, the same year Parisse led his team to an opening win over France in the Six Nations, but his return did boost morale.
"Today, collectively, it was a very, very good match, even if we lost," Parisse said. "The world was expecting a big defeat. The entire world expected Ireland to roll over us and win by 50 points but the team answered really, really well in a positive way."
Italy's last match of the tournament will be against Romania at Exeter next Sunday, the last day of the pool round. Brunel expects his squad to finish on a positive note.
"We lost and that is the reality of things," he said. "We will look and analyze our performance at the end of the World Cup. I hope we will end our tournament well in regards to the attitude of the team — I want to see a team that has pride to finish well."
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.