Round 3 (And Beyond):

So Italy's winless run in the Six Nations reaches 25 games. A home game against Scotland is always an exciting prospect for Italian fans as it provides not just the slim possibility of a victory, but more often than not a tight game where Italy can score some tries and get the fans off their seats. Unfortunately this year's game only saw one of those things occur. Brief glimpses of flair from the back three were overshadowed by a catalogue of errors that allowed Scotland to look much more dominant than they actually were. Not since 2002 has an Italian team lost at home to Scotland by such a large margin. Scotland's big win against France serves to hide some of Italy's blushes but Italian fans will find this defeat hard to take. It was not only the loss which was painful but the fact that Italy, for the second time in this championship, have ended a match scoreless. For all the promise shown by this new attacking and dynamic style of play Italy have only managed 22 points contributing to a points difference of -72 with arguably their 2 hardest games yet to come. With the disruption and heartbreak caused by Coronavirus Italian rugby has rightfully taken a backseat, but will return to a number of questions which need to be answered. I will take a look at the aftermath of this tournament later but first lets start with a review of the Scotland game.

Scotland:

I outlined in my previous post about how important the first few minutes are in a rugby match. A lot of pressure was on both teams to perform and the first few phases of play can set the tone of the match. The first 20 seconds were promising for the Italians with Tomasso Allan's deep kick cleared into touch for an Italian line-out. Then out of nowhere Luca Bigi took a quick line-out allowing the Italian pack to form a really strong looking maul. What a joyous 20 seconds those were with Italy looking lively and unpredictable. Then Bigi inexplicably drops the ball at the back of the maul under no pressure whatsoever from the opposition and the pendulum of momentum swings away from Italy before a pass has been made. This moment will have felt like deja vu to many Italian fans as it neatly sums up nearly a decade of Italian rugby into 30 seconds. The use of ingenuity and guile is a great way of competing against better opposition but basic errors always find a way to spoil all the hard work. Despite this error there was still 79.5 minutes of rugby left to make up for the error. 30 seconds later a high ball isn't claimed by Jayden Hayward but Italy are lucky that the loose ball is knocked on by Scotland for an Italian scrum. With Italy's scrum performing well against both Wales and France I was able to sit back and relax into a false sense of security seeing Italy win a penalty and kick the ball deep into Scotland's half for a line-out. Italy win the throw (good), Italy setup a maul (even better), Seb Negri runs and takes the ball over the game line (game plan coming together) and Italy have momentum. With the first 5 minutes now over Italy only have 2 errors to their name and the scoreboard is still 0 - 0, which is a great return in comparison to recent games. Then comes the downfall. Guiseppe Zilocchi, who in fairness was brilliant in the opening two games, buckles under the pressure of the Scotland scrum and the ball is lost. 'That was probably just a one off lapse of concentration' - I thought. I was wrong. Time and time again the Scotland pack pounded Zilocchi at the scrum winning penalty after penalty until Smith put him out of his misery by bringing on Marc Riccioni after 30 minutes. As Scotland entered the Italian 22 I was worried that an early score was coming but in the end the Italian defence stood strong and forced the turnover. On re-watching the game it dawned on me that although the Italian defence was good, it was more the inability of the Scottish to exploit the overlap out wide that prevented an early try. Another Italian scrum, another penalty against Zilocchi. Although Adam Hastings missed the resulting penalty there were already ominous signs within the first 10 minutes.

One of my favourite moments of the tournament came in the 12th minute where after sustaining a period of Scottish attack the Italians finally found themselves in possession with a broken field in front of them. After claiming the ball from a Hastings chip Hayward passed the ball to the in-form Mattia Bellini. Instead of the panic which we often see from Italian players in possession Bellini just backed himself to beat players. He steps player one, players two and three and then he is off galloping down the field like a school child fresh out of their last lesson before the summer holidays. Still with 3 defenders to beat in front of him he has little time to think of the best option. Option 1 is to pass to Negri on his outside, but covering defenders will be too quick for the flank forward. Option 2 is to chip and chase, but the recovering Stuart Hogg is already making ground and will be most likely to get to the ball first. Option 3 is to back himself, keep running, beat as many players as possible before hoping there is a teammate to offload to. He chose Option 3. Correct option. But as Hayward collects the offload he decides to look inside for the next offload rather than outside where Matteo Minozzi (the exact player you want on your outside in this situation) has an easy run in under the posts. From the resulting ruck the ball is played wide where Braam Steyn is forced into touch. Like the opening 30 seconds, this passage of play sums up Italian rugby succinctly. Dazzling running and offloads get them in a good position but then one wrong choice and a lack of patience in the opponents 22 results in a turnover. I totally understand that staying calm while the Stadio Olimpico is roaring you on can be difficult but it is this game management that allows top class teams to score tries. I hope that as Italy create chances like this more and more regularly they are able to improve their decision making skills and finally start putting these chances away. Then came a game changing decision by the referee. After 3 line-outs in the Scottish 22 Niccolo Cannone takes the ball into contact, both knees touch the floor but the Scottish players lift him back up. The correct decision should've been a penalty for the Scottish players not releasing but instead the referee allows Cannone to be held up giving Scotland a scrum. 3 points would've been just reward for Italy's pressure but instead the momentum again swings the way of the Scottish.

20 minutes in and a lovely flowing move from the backs results in Jake Polledri breaking the line allowing Italy to yet again enter the Scottish 22. Unfortunately the lack of support runners along with a lack of patience results in Polledri's offload going straight into Scottish hands. Scotland counter and kick deep but thankfully the covering player is Carlo Canna. Being a fly-half by trade Canna would be one of the best suited players to deal with a situation like this and that is why Italy have often deployed him deep when defending. Guess again. His low, dribbling clearance kick misses touch, gives the ball straight back to Scotland and most importantly doesn't give the Italian defence any time to reset. 2 passes later and Stuart Hogg has glided in for the first try of the match. Unquestionably a great try from Hogg but completely avoidable from an Italian perspective. As a defender playing against Hogg you know that you can't allow him to get to full speed or you will be in trouble. Watching the try again you wonder if a diving tackle from either Negri, Hayward or Luca Morisi could've at least hindered Hogg's stride allowing another player to make a tackle. Alas we will never know and despite the Italians having great spells of rugby the momentum pendulum has now swung so far in Scotland's direction that it risks snapping of it's pivot completely. 

Another massive moment occurred just before half-time when after another great spell of possession Italy are rewarded with a penalty which Allan lines up from a long way out. His kick hit the post which got me wondering what the odds were on Italy hitting the post at some point during the championship. I couldn't find out what the odds were but I regret not putting some money on it. As Italy went into half-time just 5 points adrift the pessimist in me was ruing the missed opportunities. Much louder was the optimist in me who was thankful that Italy had reached the break just 5 points down and grateful that Italy had played with such flair and excitement. 

The second half carried on in much the same vein as the first. Basic errors, especially at the breakdown, starved the team of field position and it wasn't long before Scotland had another try. But on the 52 minute mark Italy again found themselves with possession amongst a broken field of play. The resulting attack saw the back three of Hayward, Bellini and Minozzi carve their way through the Scottish line with quick feet and sublime offloads. I can't describe how encouraging it was to see these three players attacking in such a harmonious fashion. When watching this segment live I literally found myself standing up off the sofa screaming. No tangible words, just screams of excitement, shock and pleasure. Much like the first half, a lack of patience from Polledri and a lack of support runners meant the move ended with Polledri becoming isolated. His nearest teammates, Allan and Callum Braley, not being the best suited players to ruck Scotland's back row off the ball. That was the 15th turnover that Italy had conceded in the game and with that number of turnovers you don't win Six Nation's matches. 

With ten minutes to go before the end Italian fans yet again experience a painful deja vu. Two front rows dumping an opposition player on their head at the breakdown. Just like against South Africa it could well have resulted in both players being sin-binned but on this occasion it was just Federico Zani who left the field. Any hope of a comeback was now over and many fans now will have returned to their default position of hoping Italy could just try to get a losing bonus point. Overall the second-half felt fairly equal between the two teams, the difference being that Italy were having to chase the game whereas Scotland were sitting on a comfortable 10 point cushion. That position of chasing the game was a result of those missed opportunities in the first half and eventually resulted in Hastings' last minute try which gave the scoreboard a much glossier feel for the Scottish.

I was worried when I sat down to re-watch this match as it was so heartbreaking the first time around. By already knowing the end result I was able to focus more on the Italian performance and was surprised at how pleasing large portions of the match were to watch. It can't be denied that Italy's intent to play attacking rugby is the best it has been for decades and they are better in their ability to create space when attacking rather than having to rely on mistakes from their opponents. I was surprised every time the ball was pinged off the side of the television to the backs standing so deep the camera couldn't fit them on the screen. Even more surprising was that more often than not Italy made really good ground from this tactic. Despite this Italy have come no closer to that much needed win and their best chance of this was against Scotland in Rome.

The Future:

This Six Nations championship was meant to be the closing of a chapter for Italian rugby with players like Sergio Parisse and Alessandro Zanni hanging up their boots after an incredible service to their nation. It was the year that Conor O'Shea's contract was due to expire thus ending a 4 year period that saw the rebuilding of Italian rugby from the ground up. Instead the postponement of Italy's last two games has produced a number of questions rather than answering them. Firstly the question of whether Sergio Parisse will postpone his retirement by what could be half a year? If he does so it would see his last game occur a year or so after its intended date at the World Cup in 2019. Parisse is still playing well for his new team Toulon at a high level in the French Top 14 so it isn't out of the question that the draw of one more test in front of the home crowd (in what could be an incredibly important game for England) is too strong for the rugby legend. The second question is what the Italian Federation decide to do with the coaching setup? Although the first 3 games of the Six Nations were disappointing for Franco Smith, it was clear to see that his short time at the helm had produced a much more enjoyable style of attacking play from the Azzurri. It will be interesting to see if Smith will be given a chance to coach the team through their summer tour of the Americas as well as the remaining two Six Nations games. A third question is whether Italy's winless run, coinciding with another dominant championship display from Georgia, results in a change in the setup of the Six Nations? There have been rumours knocking about suggesting that either Japan or South Africa could join/replace Italy in the tournament. Japan joining would be ludicrous. The logistics of travelling halfway around the world would pull the heart out of the historic tournament. Not only would the time difference create an issue with broadcasting, but the away games in Japan would come at an astronomical price for fans whilst creating a massive carbon footprint for the tournament. South Africa is a more realistic possibility due to being in a similar timezone to the current countries. They also possess a relationship with European rugby through their 2 teams participating in the Pro14. Either option would be complicated as neither answers the question of how World Rugby can aid the growth of tier 2 nations like Georgia. A much fairer solution would be a relegation playoff between the lowest ranked team in the Six Nations and the highest in the Rugby Europe Championship. Although the Italian Federation will be incredibly opposed to this format it is hard to avoid the fact that Italy's performances have been well below the standard of the other five nations for a long time now. Italy have received a massive amount of money from joining the Six Nations, they also have a large player pool and two professional teams playing in a competitive league. With all of these advantages over Georgian rugby the idea of a relegation playoff should not be something Italian fans should be scared of. A playoff would give Italian rugby the chance to prove that it has earned the right to play in Europe's highest competition. This would then relieve the massive amount of pressure that seems to sit over Italy every time they play a Six Nations match.

What happens in the remaining games of this Six Nations remains to be seen but it is likely that this years tournament will be remembered for little else other than the Coronavirus outbreak. In terms of Rugby this may be a good thing for Italy who will look to divert attention from another tournament without a win (or even a bonus point). Despite this there have been positives lurking amongst those defeats. Mattia Bellini has cemented his place as first choice winger with a number of displays that not only showed his willingness to work hard for the team but also in his confidence to play with flair and positivity. There have also been really pleasing signs from a lot of the young players making their first steps in international rugby. Danilo Fischetti and Giovanni Licata have shone off the bench adding pace to the team when called upon. Most pleasing was Niccolo Cannone who came in to make his debut only after injuries to both Federico Ruzza and David Sisi in the second-row. Cannone's performances in all three matches far exceeded any expectations had of him. I described the second-row as a bit of problem position in my previous posts but Cannone's surge into the first team, along with Marco Lazzaroni's willingness to play in the position, now gives Italy and exciting young pool of locks to learn from the likes of Alessandro Zanni and Dean Budd.

Although the tournament (so far) has been a disappointing one, the Coronavirus outbreak provides us with much needed perspective. Sports like rugby provide millions with entertainment and pleasure but when the health and welfare of millions is put under risk then the postponement of such sports is a small price to pay. Rugby is a sport that promotes teamwork, cooperation and solidarity. So while we wait for our beloved rugby to return let us take those values out into the wider world where they are needed more than ever.