Italy head coach speaks to Joe Molloy ahead of this weekend's head-to-head with Ireland

Conor O'Shea believes the reaction to Ireland's loss to England bordered on "hysteria".

The Italy head coach will lead his side against Ireland in the Six Nations this Sunday.

Speaking to Off The Ball ahead of the game, O'Shea felt the reaction to the opening weekend was overblown.

"I thought the reaction to the England loss was nothing short of histrionics and laughable," he said.

"Absolutely laughable. There isn't a divine right to win any game of rugby when you're playing against top teams. When you're playing against the likes of the Vunipolas and the Tuilagis at full flow... and then to say they were beaten out of sight, when it's actually a game decided on fine margins... well, that's the world we live in.

Schmidt

"We've been very lucky as a country to have Joe Schmidt. I don't know what he'll do afterwards but I'll certainly be picking his brains for hopefully many years to come."

O'Shea picked Schmidt's brains after the 2018 Six Nations clash. There may also be a possibility to do the same after this weekend's clash.

"It mightn't be as easy to meet him straight after the game this time, unless he wants to come to Rome for a coffee," he said.

"Joe is the first to say that it didn't just all happen with him. There's a lot of people that worked to make it happen over a number of years."

While O'Shea has earned big test wins over the likes of South Africa, victory in the Six Nations has eluded him.

But he spoke about the work they are doing in Italy to bridge the gap culturally, contrasting the situation with Irish rugby.

"When you see progression, you have hope," said O'Shea.

"And you make other changes to our system as time goes on, we'll get to where we need to here."