Thursday 23 November 2017 12:14, UK
Italy head coach Conor O'Shea believes his side are beginning to gain recognition in world rugby regardless of their results.
Italy welcome South Africa to Padua on Saturday and despite only winning four of 16 test matches under O'Shea, the Irishman feels his side are on the up.
"The first thing you do is gain everyone's respect and I think, slowly, we are beginning to do that," he said.
O'Shea's side shocked the former world champions back in November 2016, as they beat the Springboks 20-18 in Florence.
The former Ireland full-back believes his side have come a long way since the victory against the Boks.
"We are a lot further down the road," O'Shea said.
"I am probably more excited now than when I arrived because we can really begin to see things are happening.
"There's so much we have to do but there's been a lot of hard graft."
Both sides have experienced mixed form ahead of the match at the Stadio Euganeo.
Italy started their autumn campaign with a 19-10 win over Fiji but fell short against Argentina 31-15, while South Africa suffered a heavy 38-3 loss to Ireland in their opening match but bounced back to beat France 18-17.
However, O'Shea believes the scoreline in their game against Argentina does not reflect the level of his team's performance.
"I know I'm judged on results but I have to look beyond that," he said.
"The day will come when we turn the corner in terms of results."
Italy are currently ranked 13 in the world but with the World Cup in Japan two years away, O'Shea believes his side have the potential to break into the top 10.
"As long as we keep doing what we are doing, we can become a very dangerous team.
"We can realistically aim to get ourselves back into the top 10 by after the World Cup (in 2019). That should be well within our grasp, given the quality of players we have."
