Italy, the youngest members of the Six Nations after joining the former Five Nations tournament in 2000, have slowly acclimatised to the standard required for northern hemisphere's premier rugby tournament.

Bollesan told said: ''I'm looking forward to this RBS 6 Nations, really it's so exciting.
''Our team is very young and inexperienced but I believe this is a strong squad with lots of talent and also able to play very fast rugby.

''(Coach) John (Kirwan) and his staff have selected all these players carefully with the intention of giving the team as many options as possible.

''For example we are trying full back Luciano Orquera in a few different positions and centre Gonzalo Canale can play also as a winger with Andrea Masi and Cristian Stoica also possibilities in the centre.

''We are trying out things in all parts of the pitch - bear in mind this is a hard tournament and we are playing five games. We would only play the same amount of games in a World Cup including the qualification tournament.''

But Bollesan would not set a specific target for the Azzurri.

''Our target is to win as many games as possible and we fear nobody,'' he said.
''We have three games at home and two away.''

''We have to make the most of our chances especially in the first game against a strong Irish team who in my opinion could win the RBS 6 Nations in 2005.''