Italy are no longer content with being Six Nations underdogs and reflecting on their landmark win over England last weekend, wing Louis Lynagh believes they can soon win the championship.
Saturday's 23-18 win in Rome was Italy's first-ever over England. They had beaten every other Six Nations side since joining the competition in 2000 except the English.
Italy also beat Scotland this year in their opening game, a side that can still win the title on the final day, and Lynagh sees no reason why his side cannot be in that position too.
They visit bottom team Wales on Saturday in their final game of this year's edition sitting fourth with nine points and could win three games in a single championship for the first time.
"A lot of our guys believe it," Lynagh told Reuters.
"I feel this team can win the Six Nations, whether it's next year or the year after or at some point. We're no longer just a one-off. On our day, we can beat almost any team in the world.
"It's kind of set a benchmark for ourselves. We're here to win games and we're here to really make a mark on every game."
A clear sign of how just much has changed is Italy beating England despite putting in probably their worst performance of the campaign.
"When we're not playing to the best of our abilities and some things don't work, we can still manage to grind out a win, that's the sign of a really good team," Lynagh said.
"And on the day things start clicking for us, I reckon we're going to be winning games by 30, 40 points."
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