By Nick Mulvenney
LYON, France (Reuters) -Coach Kieran Crowley said Italy would be focused on process not outcome in their final pool game against France as they look to revive their World Cup campaign after last week’s crushing loss to the All Blacks.
The Azzurri could still qualify for the quarter-finals out of Pool A with a win over the tournament hosts at OL Stadium on Friday and Crowley said he was convinced they had “moved on” from the 96-17 loss to New Zealand.
“One bad performance doesn’t define you so we very quickly put it behind us,” he told reporters after naming his team.
“We’re looking forward to a chance this week to at least give a performance that puts a little bit more respect and credibility into (the team).”
Stephen Varney said the players had held a ceremony this week where they each wrote down their thoughts about the New Zealand debacle on a piece of paper and tossed them into a firepit.
“I think it was a good way of forgetting about it and moving on,” the Wales-born scrumhalf said.
Crowley took blame for the loss, saying the players had been coached to focus more on the results of their efforts rather than on the individual steps they needed to take to be competitive.
“Last week on reflection, it’s probably bad coaching on my behalf, I think we lost the process,” he added.
“We looked more at outcome rather than process, so that was disappointing from my perspective, and this week we’ve gone back to process.”
Crowley made five personnel changes to his team for the clash against a France team they took down to the wire in a 29-24 Six Nations loss in Rome in February.
Livewire outside back Ange Capuozzo moved from wing to fullback, with Tommaso Allan returning at flyhalf and Paolo Garbisi coming in at inside centre to give Italy two playmakers.
Hooker Hame Faiva and prop Pietro Ceccarelli will make their first starts of the tournament in an all-new front row along with loosehead Simone Ferrari.
Faiva takes over from Giacomo Nicotera, who took a head knock against the All Blacks, while tighthead Ceccarelli comes in for Marco Riccioni, who drops to the bench.
Ferrari replaces Danilo Fischetti, who left the squad on Sunday because of injury. Niccolo Cannone replaces lock Dino Lamb, another player injured in the New Zealand game.
Any sort of win for Italy on Friday should be enough to reach the knockout stage for the first time, unless they allow France to pick up both attacking and losing bonus points.
Italy team: 15-Ange Capuozzo, 14-Pierre Bruno, 13-Juan Ignacio Brex, 12-Paolo Garbisi, 11-Montanna Ioane, 10-Tommaso Allan, 9-Stephen Varney, 8-Lorenzo Cannone, 7-Michele Lamaro (captain), 6-Sebastian Negri, 5-Federico Ruzza, 4-Niccolo Cannone, 3-Pietro Ceccarelli, 2-Hame Faiva, 1-Simone Ferrari
Replacements: 16-Marco Manfredi, 17-Federico Zani, 18-Marco Riccioni, 19-David Sisi, 20-Manuel Zuliani, 21-Alessandro Fusco, 22-Luca Morisi, 23-Lorenzo Pani.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes and Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Alex Richardson and Christian Radnedge)
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