Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni is adamant that his side "have a chance against any team" in the Six Nations after their opening win over France.
The Leicester Tigers man, along with skipper Sergio Parisse, was among the tries to give the hosts a 23-18 win over the French, with Luciano Orquera scoring 10 points with the boot for the Italians.
The Azzurri defended resiliently with 14 men towards the end of the clash, but Castrogiovanni believes that Italy can be a match for any side in the tournament.
"We can't start the tournament better than this," the 31-year-old told BBC Sport.
"We repeated what we did two years ago. We still have another four games and I hope we can play like that again. If we do, we have a chance against any team."
Italy travel to Murrayfield to face Scotland on Saturday in their second match of the tournament.
