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'The hard part is it's an unbelievable toll we took out there, in terms of physicality and mentally'

Italian boss Conor O'Shea

Conor O’Shea says Italy are still a long way from the summit of “the biggest mountain” after they were beaten 26-16 by Ireland in the Six Nations.

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The Azzurri threatened to pull off a sensational upset at Stadio Olimpico on Sunday, going in at half-time with a deserved 16-12 lead.

Edoardo Padovani and Luca Morisi touched down to cancel out tries from Quinn Roux and Jacob Stockdale, while Tommaso Allan was on target with two penalties as Italy threw everything at the defending champions in the first half.

Italy were unable to avoid a 20th consecutive defeat in the tournament as Ireland ground it out in the second half, tries from Keith Earls and Conor Murray giving Ireland a bonus-point win.

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Ian McKinley missed a last-gasp kick at goal for a losing bonus point, but O’Shea was proud of his players after they gave his country of birth a scare in Rome.

“The players are a pleasure to be around. The hard part is it’s an unbelievable toll we took out there, in terms of physicality and mentally.” said the Italy head coach.

“There’s a real belief in what we’re doing but we also know it’s the biggest mountain you could ever get.

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“I said after the first two games that for the first time we feel we’re properly climbing, but there’s a long way to go on the climb.”

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fl 47 minutes ago
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I don't listen to Nigel Farage. Really not sure where you'd be getting that from. Maybe you should stick to responding to what I've actually said, rather than speculating about my sources.


I'm not sure what you think Putin is going to do. He'll probably conquer Ukraine, but its taken him a long time, and cost him a lot of soldiers. Hitler overran France in a matter of weeks and then started bombing Britain. At this rate Putin might make it to Paris by 2080? I think he'll give up long before then!


I don't see what Stalinist language policy has to do with any of what we're talking about. De-Ukrainization took place in the 1930s, but the genocide of Palestine is taking place in 2025. If your argument is that the invasion of Ukraine is part of a longer history of Russian suppression of Ukraine then you might have a point, but that really just underlines the key difference between Hitler and Putin; Hitler wanted to dominate as much area as possible and so posed a threat to all of Europe, whereas Putin wants to force the assimilation of those who have historically been within the Russian sphere of influence, so only poses a threat to eastern europe and central asia.


"Read and think for yourself."

What would you recommend I read? On the genocide of Palestine I've found Patrick Wolfe's "Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native" and Sai Englert's "Settlers, Workers, and the Logic of Accumulation by Dispossession" especially useful - they might disabuse you of the notion that what we are witnessing is an "authoritarian criminal syndicate" fighting a nation! - rather Zionist genocide is a largely democratic process, arising from a structure of settler colonialism which has no analogue in Ukraine.

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