Canada need more challenges in international rugby if they are to turn impressive displays at the Rugby World Cup into victories, says coach Kieran Crowley.

The minnows dominated large parts of Saturday's Pool D clash with Italy at Elland Road and thrilled the crowd with their attacking play, but missed chances to seal the win and were made to pay.  

Slowly Italy's experience began to come through and they were able to manage the closing 20 minutes of the match and seal a 23-18 win.

A late try from Gonzalo Garcia and a penalty from Tommaso Allan ensured Italy's first win and left Canada to rue not building on the sensational scores from DTH van der Merwe and Matt Evans.

Crowley was left disappointed by the result, and says it is crucial his side get more international experience to help them turn performances into wins.

"We're pretty disappointed to be honest, the lads gave everything they could but it wasn't quite good enough," he said.

"We came here to win and we didn't, we need more games at this sort of level to be able to manage the game better.

"We need to turn dominance into a winning performance, happy with some aspects of it but really disappointed with the result.

"The more games you have at an elite level where the players are under extreme pressure and have to make decisions in a quick fashion you're going to get better at it. 

"We would [make those decisions better] if we did [have the experience], and it might've been a different outcome."