In last week’s 33-12 loss to England, Ireland were made to pay for a sluggish start that allowed the world champions to race into a 21-0 half-time lead.

The disappointment for Bemand against Italy, however, was that his side failed to build on a rampant first-half display that yielded seven tries and allowed the visitors to nick a try bonus point late on.

This is Bemand’s third Six Nations in charge of Ireland and he is yet to mastermind a win over England or France.

And as his players prepare to switch focus to facing the French – who knocked them out of last year’s World Cup – in Clermont next week, Bemand has laid down an early challenge to his squad to improve on Saturday’s second-half performance as they chase a statement win away from home.

“We always want to win in Ireland regardless of who we play against,” said Bemand.

“We have got to take stock of this performance and go to France next week. We’re going to go after ourselves, there are some things to tidy up from today but if we get those bits right, we know we can put in a performance to compete with the French.”