Ireland U20 head coach Peter Malone had no complaints after the gut-wrenching opening World Championship defeat to Italy in Georgia, and said his team paid for an "average" first half.
Massimo Cioffi brilliantly converted his own 76th-minute try at the Kutaisi Stadium to nudge the Azzurri 22-21 ahead, with Ciaran Frawley's missed long-range penalty leaving Malone's charges devastated at the final whistle.
They now face games against Scotland and the All Blacks in Pool B with progression looking an enormous ask, but Malone said his team will learn from their errors as they look to salvage some positives.
"We let them get an early foothold in the game which was the one thing we didn't want to do," he said.
"We dominated possession in the first 15 or 20 minutes but they got two breakaway tries and that put us under pressure. I thought the lads took the foot off the pedal towards the end of the first half.
"They refocused a lot, I thought we'd then done enough but in fairness to Italy, they deserved it. They stayed in the game, they got their chance and they took it in the last minute. We're disappointed; there's a lot to learn from that game.
"We were pretty average at times in that first half so we'll really learn from that and see what we can do better against Scotland because we know they are a serious team."
Frawley was inconsolable after seeing his kick miss the target from the Italy 10-metre line.
The Leinster fly-half pulled his effort slightly to the right but Malone said the burden of defeat is by no means on Frawley's shoulders.
"It was a tough miss but he'd just nailed the previous one five minutes earlier to put us ahead so that's the way the game goes," he stressed.
"He was unlucky; he actually struck it well. We'd hold nothing against Ciaran. We left enough chances behind us to win that game. It's a 15-man game, a 28-man squad, and coaches management and all have to take responsibility."
