The Italians have taken significant strides under the Frenchman who enjoyed a legendary playing career as a scrum-half for his country and also led them to glory as coach in the 1993 Five Nations.

Italy had to come from behind on Saturday to earn a share of the spoils in Cardiff but Berbizier felt they should have gone on to win the game.

''It has been a hard match,'' he said, ''but we did play well and kept our discipline at a very hard level.

''This has been a great result for us.

''We tackled well and we played at the same level as Wales.

''Sadly, we lost points with Ramiro Pez, but after the game I congratulated him because despite his missed kicks, he played very, very well.''

Pez scored eight points from a conversion and two penalties, but the Perpignan fly-half missed three penalties in the match and in the first half he was off target with an attempted dropped goal and a conversion.

''I'm not particularly happy with my kicking, but I think I played an honest game, and hopefully I will be cooler against the Scots,'' he said.

Italy would have left Wales empty-handed had it not been for the outstanding effort of centre Mirco Bergamasco, who was singled out as the game's best player.

He said: ''I'm very happy to win the RBS 6 Nations man of the match.

''I feel great, it was a hard game, but we played well and we deserved to win.

We are still coming home with a great result.''

They now want to go one better against Scotland in the last round of the competition in Rome.

Italy captain Marco Bortolami said: ''We are extremely happy with the 18-18 result in Cardiff.

''We believed we would win this game, especially in the second half, but I'm happy with the draw and I have to congratulate all my team-mates for their great effort.

''In our last game against Scotland, we must improve and be 100 per cent confident that we can win this game, too, and hopefully finish this RBS 6 Nations on a high.''