Italy's Lamb excited for New Zealand challenge

BOURGOIN-JALLIEU, France : Dino Lamb may be a new face in this exciting Italy squad, but the English-born lock has already made a big impact, and is relishing the prospect of taking on the All Blacks.

Lamb joined Italy's preliminary panel before the World Cup, and did enough to impress coach Kieran Crowley to make the official squad.

After winning their opening two games in France, spirits are high in the Italian camp ahead of Friday's match against New Zealand, as Lamb told Reuters in an interview.

"The mood is very positive. We set out three or four months ago to win the first block of games with Namibia and Uruguay.

"We've done that, we've got ourselves 10 points to give us the opportunity of facing the next two games with confidence."

Lamb only made his Italian debut in August, but playing for Italy had long been on his mind.

"It's always been in the pipeline as an opportunity.

"My father was born in Turin, he's 100 per cent Italian and growing up, my Italian grandmother lived nearby, there's always been an Italian influence in my life."

In 2016, Conor O'Shea became Italy coach, after his spell at Harlequins, the club where the young Dino Lamb began his career, and still plays.

"Conor knew about my Italian links, and asked me to keep an open mind about it, but at the time I was involved in the England underage setup and wanted to see that through."

Last December, Lamb spoke to Crowley when the coach came to watch him play.

"I didn't want to just turn up because of my Italian background. I needed to know I had something to offer the group," Lamb said, and the 25-year-old quickly showed his worth.

He played in three of Italy's warm-up games, scoring a try against Romania. In France he followed that up with another try in his