Andy Farrell insists Six Nations table toppers Ireland must be more clinical - after his side struggled to put away Italy in a nail-biter.
Ireland scored five tries in their 34-30 victory at the Stadio Olimpico but butchered a number of other golden opportunities and the Azzurri made them sweat until Mack Hansen's 72nd minute score.
At one point TV cameras caught Farrell biting his nails as the tension ramped up, but he was able to laugh about it afterwards.
"Was I biting my nails? My mother's going to be mad. It was a tough match - it was a proper Test match."
Italy blew the chance to draw level before man of the match Hansen's killer try and Farrell admitted: "What Irish fan wouldn't have been biting their nails when the cross-field kick went in and bounced very close.
"That's what Test matches are all about and that's how it should be."
After he was critical of Ireland's finishing at times in the last outing against France, the head coach was banging the same drum in Rome.
"We need to take our chances," admitted Farrell, who confirmed that prop Finlay Bealham twisted his knee in the first half.
"Take all the emotion out of the game, Mack Hansen dropped a ball clean just before half-time, James Lowe dropped a ball over the try-line, we gave an intercept try away.
"So, we probably should have - could have, would have - had a better lead going into half-time.
"I was saying to (Italy boss) Kieran Crowley before the game, with the character they're showing they don't go away any more.
"They continue to fight, we knew that was going to happen again in the second-half after the little bit of a piggy-back we gave them with the try before half-time.
"They showed the character of staying with it, and so in that regard the best part of our game was staying in.
"The bench was excellent coming on. Nice and calm, accurate and added to the performance which was great.
"I thought we showed great character actually, to just keep playing our game.
"We found a way. With 15, 20 minutes to go we found a way to keep getting over the gainline, keep asking some questions and the final try we scored was a class, character-type try.
"The character of the last 20 minutes was really pleasing."
James Ryan captained Ireland in the absence of Johnny Sexton and he was blown away by the atmosphere.
"To have 25,000-plus Irish people here today was incredible," he said. We really appreciate it, it makes a massive difference to us. It was very special to be able to lead my country out today with such great support there.
"My dad was actually a bit sick with the flu this week so I told him the last thing he needed was to get on a flight, three hours over and three hours back. I told him to rest up. He was pretty gutted but I'm sure he'll get to the next game."
However Ryan conceded that Ireland need to be more consistent over 80 minutes.
"It is the case," he stressed. "I don't think today was an 80-minute performance.
"We made it quite difficult for ourselves at times, particularly in the first half. But that's still a positive for us in a way because we're three from three, top of the table, but there's still a lot more for us.
"We have a good two weeks to get ready for Scotland and we have to be better."
Meanwhile, Italy supremo Crowley was hugely disappointed with the outcome.
"We're absolutely gutted about that result today," he said. "We were right in that game."
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