Italy rugby coach Nick Mallett wasted no time in reacting to his team's Twickenham debacle by calling up veteran scrum-half Paul Griffen and Ulster lock Antonio Del Fava to his squad for the next Six Nations clash against Ireland in Rome next Sunday.

Mallett had resisted the urge to select 33-year-old New Zealand-born Griffen for Italy's opener against England despite having three scrum-halves injured in Simon Piccone, Pietro Travagli and Pablo Cannavosio.

Instead, he picked Stade Francais flanker Mauro Bergamasco at number nine but the 29-year-old had a shocker and his wayward passing, poor decision-making and lack of experience in that position was largely responsible for Italy turning around at the break with a 22-6 deficit and having conceded three distinctly avoidable tries.

Mallett hauled Bergamasco off at half-time and replaced him with Capitolina's Giulio Toniolatti, who had previously made only one brief substitute appearance for Italy against Australia in November.

But having admitted that this experiment was a failure, Mallet has brought back Griffen to the fold and also recalled Del Fava after injury ruled him out of Twickenham contention.

After the England match, a 36-11 defeat, Mallett made no attempt to point the finger of blame elsewhere.

"I lost the bet and I accept full responsibility," he said.

"I thought about substituting Mauro after 25 minutes but I didn't want to take him off like that in front of the eyes of 80,000 people.

"At half-time I saw that he was very disappointed. I didn't bring him back on at flanker because I wanted to change as little as possible.

"I assured him that this performance would not affect his future in the team at flanker.

"Toniolatti played better than Bergamasco even if he had some problems with his passing.

"He got quickly into the rhythm of the match, he had a good first 15 minutes and then he gave his all and was very tired at the end."

Italy's players showed their support for Bergamasco after his torrid afternoon with captain and Stade Francais team-mate Sergio Parisse revealing they were all behind him.

"I wanted to thank Mauro in front of the other players and to give him our unconditional support," he said.

"Agreeing to play scrum-half showed he has the humility of a great champion and the responsibility of a real man."

Bergamasco's younger brother Mirco, who played left wing and also plays for Stade Francais, said he and his team-mates needed to thank his brother.

"Mauro sacrificed himself not just physically but also morally and for this we must thank him," he said.

"I want to share the try I scored at Twickenham with him."

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