New Italy coach Jacques Brunel has set his side the target of winning the Six Nations in the next two to three years.
The Frenchman, who takes over from South African Nick Mallet, was officially introduced in his new role on Thursday and wasted no time in laying out some ambitious objectives.
Despite the fact that the Azzurri have finished bottom of the Six Nations in nine of their 12 appearances, Brunel is looking to achieve a first-ever victory during his four-year contract.
"The team has potential, they've been progressing for several years and I hope to develop this progress even more," stated the 57-year-old who left French outfit Perpignan to take up his new post.
"In the next two to three years we need to arrive in a position in which we are able to win the Six Nations and at the end of the four-year cycle to be in the first six in the world.
Better balance
"That will require a lot of work, we have to keep our strengths and find a better balance with these strengths, but I believe strongly in this team."
Brunel insisted he would nurture a culture of pride in the national team jersey and revealed he would look to place an emphasis on youth development.
"The national team needs to carry the flame for the whole of Italian rugby, it's a shop window for Italian rugby so we are obliged to get results," he continued.
"We need to provide the ambition for the whole of Italian rugby but we also need to find a way of doing so and for that we need an identity.
"There needs to be collaboration between the different levels so that what we put into it allows us to get results not just for tomorrow but also for after tomorrow.
"The influence we have on young players will determine the future of Italian rugby."
Brunel did concede that one of his first challenges would be to discover a truly international class fly-half - a problem that hindered Mallett throughout his reign.
However, he was quick to point out it remains an issue that affects many of the world's leading nations and feels there is sufficient talent in the Italian pool to remedy the situation.
"There's been a great search in the last few years for a top-level 10, but all the teams in the world are looking for this," he added.
"The problem we have today which bothers me is that (Riccardo) Bocchino isn't playing at the top level in Italian rugby in the franchises. That's a little bothersome.
"We can see things differently at number nine where we have good players but at 10 we need to give young players more possibility to play at the top level.
"There's (Luciano) Orquera but we will look for other players who can play at this level.
"But I have to say that all teams have this (problem) apart from New Zealand because they found (Dan) Carter.
"There is potential, there are those I know of who've already played for the national team but there's perhaps potential that I don't know about in the clubs.
"It's up to us to give confidence to those are who are here now and to prepare the future to find the players of tomorrow."
