Six Nations preview: Italy coach has difficult balancing act if he’s to make the Azzurri a force

Published on Sunday 29 January 2012 02:59

WHEN ITALY take on France in Paris on Saturday, it will be the start of their 13th year in the Six Nations. They have yet to come of age so it’s no surprise that there are times when they seem like your average teenager – moody, unpredictable and with poor results.

This is probably why their new coach, Frenchman Jacques Brunel, from Auch, the city of D’Artagnan, said balance would be the first thing he wanted to give to the squad. Balance between forwards and backs, as in recent times Italy’s game has definitely been forward-oriented. Balance between ambitions and expectations (“we must always play to win, not only to try to limit the damage”). Balance between the Italian clubs and the Federation, so often at loggerheads. It’s a goal Brunel’s fellow Frenchman, former president Charles de Gaulle, would have called a vaste programme, a massive ask.

Brunel, pictured above right, is the fifth man to coach Italy since they joined the Six Nations in 2000. England have gone through five coaches too, Wales a record six. None of Brunel’s predecessors, however, has won more than three Six Nations games. Only Matt Williams, with Scotland, between 2004 and 2005, matched Brad Johnstone’s one. Guess against who? Italy and Scotland in the past decade have often been the main contenders for the Wooden Spoon, Italy coming out top with no fewer than nine.

Last November, Brunel took over from English-born South African Nick Mallett, who, four years ago, had been acclaimed in Italy as the perfect mix between Anglo Saxon rigor and French flair, thanks to his successful time at Stade Francais. But Mallett, in the end, found it difficult to fit in with the Latin way on the rugby pitch. That’s something Brunel should not have problems with. “French and Italians are cousins, we understand each other,” he said. “We like creativity, imagination, sometimes both need discipline. You need to find a balance. And I have coached the Catalans [at Perpignan]. Once you have had to deal with them you fear nothing.”

Mallett didn’t think it was worth scouting the country in search of new talent. He focused on his group, tightened relationships and, even in an emergency, he preferred relying on his men rather than looking elsewhere. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t (think of Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half at Twickenham three years ago!)

At the World Cup he expected the squad to click. It didn’t happen. A lack of competition among the ranks, especially in some key positions, hampered Italy’s route. Brunel said there was no time for him to make a revolution before the Six Nations. For his first competition with Italy he would make do predominately with the old guard. Newcomers will be tested in summer during the tour to Argentina and North America. However the Frenchman did give a taste of what is to come, calling four youngsters into his squad for the Six Nations, among them the 18-year-old winger Angelo Esposito, captain of the under-20 National Academy team in the Italian second division.

It is the first season in which Italy has played an Academy team in a domestic league in order to give players regular match play, week in, week out.

In the short time he has been in Italy, Brunel has already spent time scanning the lower division teams in search of promising players. Italy cannot afford to let a single man slip though the net. It is only Aironi and Treviso’s second season in the Celtic League, now the RaboDirect Pro12. But Aironi hardly ever win a game and, earlier this month, with no fewer than nine Italian internationals in their ranks, they suffered a record 0-82 loss at home against Clermont Auvergne in the Heineken Cup, raising more than a few doubts over their players’ form or commitment.

Treviso, on the other hand, are now a force to be reckoned with but relations between the club and the Italian Federation are at their lowest. Last summer, the FIR ruled that the two franchises could not have more than three foreign imports, starting from the 2012-2013 season. Treviso answered by taking legal action against the decision. The FIR also stated that only one player not eligible for Italy could be fielded in certain areas of the game per match, such as the stand-off/full-back pairing. In order to obey the ruling, against Connacht, early in September, Treviso played a South African No.10, Willem De Waal, and put Aussie full-back Brendan Willams at 11. On the field Williams kept playing at full-back, with No.15 Ludovico Nitoglia, a former Italian international, on the wing. When asked for an explanation, Treviso said they play their rugby with three full-backs. Is this the creativity Brunel wants? In January Treviso’s coach, the South African Franco Smith, was banned for two weeks for the infringement and the club was fined.

The balance that the new national coach is asking for seems a long way off.

Back on the pitch, the stand-off berth remains Italy’s biggest concern, with only two contenders for the position, Aussie-born Kris Burton, from Treviso, and Argentine Luciano Orquera, from Aironi. Both have already turned 30. Burton was left out of the World Cup squad, Orquera travelled to New Zealand and shared the role with Riccardo Bocchino who this season has been unable to secure a contract with either of the franchises and has returned to playing in Italy’s domestic league.

Former Italy under-20 stand-off, Luca Morisi, 21, was one of the four uncapped players in Brunel’s first Six Nations camp. He played at centre as a “permit player” for Treviso during the World Cup and he is now back to his team, Crociati, in Division One. A good prospect for the future, at present he is unlikely to be in Italy’s starting XV.

With France out for revenge after last year’s defeat at the Stadio Flaminio, and England next up in Rome, on 11 February, it is difficult to imagine a harder start for the new coach.

Italy’s “X factor”, however, could be the 82,000-seater Stadio Olimpico where they will play for the first time in the Six Nations due to the long overhaul of their traditional Flaminio home. Presenting the new venue, FIR president Giancarlo Dondi said that rugby is there to stay. “But we have to fill it,” he added. For the England game, pre-sales have already hit 60,000.

But will they still turn out in their thousands for the Scotland game in mid-March if Italy have a blank score card?

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