Ryan Tubridy believes Italy should not be allowed to play in the Six Nations.
The Italians suffered a 50-10 defeat to France in their opening game in the tournament on Saturday and have not won a Six Nations game in almost six years.
Their last win the competition came against Scotland in Edinburgh in 2015, while they also defeated Ireland in Rome two years previous to that victory.
Tubridy insists that Italy "can't play rugby at the level the rest of the teams can" and believes the tournament "was doing fine without them" before they joined in 2000.
Speaking on his RTE Radio 1 show this morning, he said: "I'm still a bit puzzled as to why Italy was allowed into that Championship at all. God help us.
"They can't play rugby at the level the rest of the teams can and it kind of gets on my nerves a bit because every game is just a bye in to the next one.
"Apologies to Italy. You're a great country, you're great fun, love you and love going to your country. I just don't know why your in that gang. It's like me wearing a jersey for Ireland
"That's probably very cruel to the Italians, but it was doing fine without them."
Italy head coach Franco Smith is still looking for his first win since being appointed in November 2019.
But the former South Africa international insists that he believes in his young group of players, with 10 of the starting XV against France having fewer than 10 caps.
Smith, whose side visit reigning Six Nations champions England next week, said: “I don’t think the French are that (much) better than us.
“Ball in hand we played very well and we suffered five tries from our mistakes, but we can improve and recover immediately.
“Growing a team internationally is very difficult, but physically the boys were fine and we were equal to them in intensity.”
France face Ireland this weekend after their comfortable win over the Italians, with Andy Farrell's side looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Wales.
Speaking after Saturday's win, France captain Captain Ollivon said: "That gave us confidence for the Ireland game but we have to keep our feet on the ground.
"We have to get back to work. We’ll need a big performance there. We will have to be more disciplined, to be better in winning the ball."
