Simon Zebo Had Big Take On Italy's Place In Six Nations After Ireland Loss

From an Ireland point of view, Saturday’s game against Italy was another reminder of the drop in performance levels Andy Farrell’s team has suffered over the last 18 months or so.

The display at the Aviva Stadium could be described as patchy at best. Ireland lacked a cutting edge in attack, while the result could have been a different one had the visitors showed a bit more composure in dangerous areas.

As for Italy, they will have been disappointed not come away from Dublin with a win. That is quite the change for a nation who have long been the whipping boys of the Six Nations.

Simon Zebo Had Big Take On Italy’s Place In Six Nations After Ireland Loss

Italy have shown glimpses of potential promise down through the years, but there is a sense that their current crop of players is better equipped to contend with the demands of the Six Nations than any of their predecessors.

Speaking on Premier Sports, Simon Zebo summed up why Italy needed to be taken seriously in the championship moving forward.

“If you’re a neutral, you’ll probably say the better team lost” 🗣️@SimonZebo shares his thoughts on Ireland’s performance against Italy yesterday ☘️#GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/qg5TZGF8RX

— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) February 15, 2026

Ireland are probably not where they want to be just as yet. They had a great impact from the bench yesterday. I thought Jack Crowley came on and did really well, Tadhg Beirne in the same vein.

They got the win which was all important, they will be disappointed not to get the bonus point.

If you’re an Italian fan, my goodness they were playing some rugby. What a threat with ball in hand, they have some speed with [Tammaso] Menoncello and [Lorenzo] Pani. They were very unlucky not to win the game.

If you’re a neutral, you probably say the better team lost. They had Menoncello knocking the ball over the line, they had a try disallowed, they had a tap tackle from Craig Casey after a chip kick on Pani that was all important.

The Italians have upped their game massively in this Six Nations. They have already taken scalp in Scotland, which some predicted.

They’re here to play now which is great to see. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s about time they’re challenging at the top table.

Italy will face their biggest challenge of the 2026 Six Nations yet when they travel to take on France next week, a game few will be expecting them to be competitive.

In saying that, their battling display against Ireland showed that they now have the qualities to compete away from home against stronger nations.

Simon Zebo Had Big Take On Italy’s Place In Six Nations After Ireland Loss

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