The Irish have a great squad with a very strong line-out and the best three quarters line-up in the world in my opinion, the Italy coach told www.federugby.it ahead of the encounter on February 6.

But last year we nearly won in Dublin. We know they respect us.

The Azzurri boss reckons holders France and world champions England will be the main threats in the competition - but he feels every game will be difficult.

I hope this will be a very even Six Nations with 15 games played at a high level and all the teams close in the standings.

If you analyse all our challengers, France and England start with a slightly better chance of winning than everybody else.

The Welsh have made huge progress in every aspect. And the Scottish have made good progress especially in their defensive play.

Italy skipper Marco Bortolami, capped 31 times by his country, added: We have a very good squad, are very close to each other and we are working hard.

We know our qualities. We want to show an ambitious gameplan and we know we have the ability to be the equal of the others teams in the tournament.