Berbizier, the former France scrum-half who also had a stint as coach of Les Bleus, was drafted in as a replacement for previous incumbent John Kirwan, who had his contract rescinded at the beginning of April.

The 46-year-olds first task is to lift the morale of the Italy side, who propped up the 2005 RBS 6 Nations table after failing to win any of their five games.

Berbizier, who guided France to the 1995 World Cup semi-finals and captained Les Bleus to Five Nations Grand Slams in 1981 and 1987, is currently putting his own ideas in place ahead of the Azzurris summer Tests in Argentina and Australia in June.

And Dondi is confident his Italian Rugby Federation has chosen the right man to take the national team forward.

I'm sure our new coach has got all the ingredients to take us to another level, he said.

His experiences as both player and manager are outstanding, and we cant forget how much he won as player and coach with the French national team and French clubs.

I honestly think this tour will be important for us to understand and follow his style and technique.

Dondi feels the summer Tests will be a good yardstick to measure the progress of the Italians under Berbizier, although he admits they will have their hands full against two of the worlds most fearsome teams.

Hopefully we will be able to put on a good display without the fear of losing against two strong teams, he continued.

The games against Argentina and Australia are very important for us. Firstly because we are facing two of the biggest teams in the entire international rugby panorama, and secondly because we have got the chance to start the new course under Pierre Berbizier
in a positive way.

Hopefully we can play some good rugby and impress our new coach.