Having finished seventh a year ago, it's been a frustrating time, but Pavanello and co will have the chance to put things right in Europe against Leicester and Montpellier.
And while the second row, who was this week called up to Jacques Brunel's Six Nations squad, insists the morale is still high in the camp, he admitted a first European success of the campaign would be very timely.
He said: "The Zebre defeat won't affect our morale: we haven't lost faith and we'll be putting it behind us in the Heineken Cup in two very difficult games.
"If we could win a game in Europe, that would be a huge boost for the team.
"It was a game against Zebre that either team could have won, but in the end they got the better of us.
"In the first half we kicked well but after the break we made too many handling errors and in contact: we should have put them under more pressure in their own half.
"We made a few mistakes in touch and they defended our mauls very well. In contrast their maul was probably the key to the whole contest."
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