The Men In Tracksuits

So Conor O'Shea has left his role with Italy after just three years. Despite performances under O'Shea not being as good as hoped, it was the optimism and energy he brought to the role which made him such a popular figure. It is sad that he will no longer be involved in Italian rugby but understandable that a less stressful job, closer to family and friends in the UK, was too good to turn down. He has created a legacy in Italy which we all hope will play out positively over the coming years. As temporary head coach, Franco Smith's sole aim will be to win a Six Nations match. Unlike Conor O'Shea, he will spend little time working on the dynamics of the Italian Rugby setup and can instead focus on choosing a squad of players he thinks is capable of winning matches. That might seem simplistic but there is little else that Italian Rugby needs at the moment. In my previous post I explained how the restructuring of Italian rugby has already seen improvements amongst the club and youth teams. In my following posts I will explain, position by position, how the depth of Italian players at Smith's disposal is better than it has been for nearly a decade. But in this post I will take a look at the new interim head coach and his possible successors.

Italy haven't had an Italian coach this side of the millennium but in former Springbok international Franco Smith they are getting close. The new interim head coach already has a long affiliation with Italian rugby, playing at Benetton from 2003 to 2006 and then going on to coach the side from 2007 to 2013. Although his playing days were over a decade ago, a lot of his former teammates have moved on to coaching roles such as Alessandro Troncon (Assistant Coach at Zebre), Fabio Ongaro (Assistant Coach at Benetton), Antonio Pavenello (Benetton Sporting Director) and Enrico Ceccato (Benetton Team Manager). He also has a lot of experience already within his national coaching setup. Forwards coach Giampiero de Carli has been working with the national team since 2014 and will stay in that position for Smith's tenure. Smith also has a familiar face in Marius Goosen who played under him at Benetton and became his defence coach at the club upon retirement. Now Goosen provides a link between the national team and Benetton by working as defence coach for both sides. Smith will also come into the job having already coached players such as Tommaso Benvenuti, Michele Campagnaro, Dean Budd & Luca Morisi at Benetton. He will also be familiar with more recent players from his time with the Cheetahs in the Pro14. For all of those reasons it makes me think that Franco Smith should be able to hit the ground running. Whether that running speed will be fast enough to keep up with other five nations is yet to be seen.

Another advantage Smith will have over previous bosses is his ability to quickly settle into the language and culture of Italy having already spent a long portion of his life there. Understandably, previous coaches have struggled early on in their tenures while settling into the Italian lifestyle. When Conor O'Shea arrived he took a while to learn the language but was able to acclimatise to the country through his love of cycling and his infectious Irish charm. This is unlike Frenchman Jacques Brunel who joined in 2011 and never quite seemed to settle in his adopted nation. Smith should have none of these problems and can get straight down to the task at hand. He knows that the best way to win over the Italian public is by winning games.

The departure of O'Shea left Italy with too little time to find a replacement and with Italy heading into such an important Six Nations, Smith was the obvious choice to take on the role. What surprised me about Conor O'Shea's departure was that while all the other nations had been peaking in the run up to the World Cup, I always got the impression that Italy were on a different cycle. By being drawn in a group with South Africa and New Zealand there was no realistic way of qualifying for the playoffs. So O'Shea chose to take a young squad resulting in a lot of our young players having already experienced a world cup. The drive that playing at a world cup should now be spurring them on to get even better. It seemed like the youthful new core of the team that O'Shea had been nurturing, such as Marco Riccioni, Federico Ruzza, Jake Polledri & Matteo Minozzi (all under 20 caps), were just about to make the impact we had been hoping for. I thought O'Shea's long term plan for the national side had just begun. He could've taken a more senior role in the Italian federation so that he could guide his successor through the next stages of his plan. Unfortunately this wasn't to be but in Franco Smith they have someone who is unlikely to implement a disruptive transition..

Although only in a temporary role it is impossible to think that if Smith wins one or more matches in this Six Nations then his hat will be in the ring for the permanent job. However in all likelihood Italy will be looking for a permanent coach to be appointed by the end of the year. Post-world cup gossip linked various coaches from around the world with Italy, most interesting being Australian Michael Cheika who already speaks fluent Italian from his time playing for Rugby Livorno as well as his first coaching job with Petrarca Padova. Another rumour is that the Italian Federation are looking to bring Guy Noves out of his semi-retirement and give him another go at international rugby since his sacking from the France post. Although his time with France was disappointing he is still one of the most successful domestic coaches France have ever had after his decades with Toulouse. Both of these options are exciting but I would like to see Italian rugby roll the dice and go for a homegrown coach like Marco Bortolami. Although Bortolami has no experience of being a head coach (even at club level), we are now in a situation where he could bring in a team of coaches who live and breathe Italian rugby. I would love to see Bortolami joined by all his old teammates from the national side like Andrea Masi, who is currently academy coach at Wasps, along with the likes of Alessandro Troncon, Fabio Ongaro, etc. Maybe even Diego Dominguez as well? Although his stint as head coach of Toulon was short and dismal, it does mean he is one of the very few Italian coaches to coach at a high level. I think the team could benefit from him being around even if it was in a less high profile role such as kicking coach. Goal kicking has been a long standing problem for Italy so what better way to solve the problem then having your greatest ever kicker come lend a hand. England did it with Johnny Wilkinson, why not Italy? Another question is how long it will be before Sergio Parisse starts his coaching career? Such is his passion for Italian rugby it doesn't seem impossible that when Parisse retires he will look to go into coaching and from the outskirts I have always assumed that Parisse is coaching many of the players already. The chasm which will be left by Parisse could somewhat be filled by his presence among the coaching staff, even if it was in a less hands on role.

Although it's a bit embarrassing that Italy weren't able to hold on to a coach who had not won a Six Nations game in 3 years, there are still reasons to be cheerful. The Pro14 teams not only provide experience for young Italian players but also for Italian coaches in the preliminary stages of their careers. You look at the path Alessandro Troncon has been on since retiring as a player and you realise that there is now a path for development. Troncon was assistant coach to both Nick Mallet and Jacques Brunel for Italy before becoming head coach of the Italian U20 side. He is now learning more about the day to day demands of club rugby in his current role as assistant coach to Michael Bradley at Zebre. This kind of experience is vital if Italy are going to start producing head coaches. It may be that Italy once again look to the Southern Hemisphere for a distinguished but expensive head coach, and that might be the right decision for now. But it will not be long before Italy once again have one of their own at the helm.