Six Nations Aftermath

It’s hard to think of a worse Six Nations campaign for Italy. Five losses out of five and an even more damning average score of 11 - 48 against them. Franco Smith has been bold in his selection committing to blooding his young players. It can’t be denied that youngsters like Michele Lamaro, Stephen Varney and Paulo Garbisi have shown promise but that is no longer enough for many Italian fans who have endured years of Italy at least competing with teams before the inevitable disappointment. What was particularly disheartening about the Wales defeat was how the team had spent the two weeks preparation talking about cutting out individual errors and soft penalties. This was all undone within the first 5 minutes of the game with Garbisi’s over kicked kick-off and Luca Bigi’s two penalties which in quick succession resulted in a yellow card. Arguments can be made as to whether the players have let the coaching staff down with these errors or whether the criticism should be directed at the coaching staff for what can often seem bewildering tactical decisions. Both may be valid but I don’t think either will be on Franco Smith’s mind. I think he knows that his vision for Italian rugby is that they will be able to compete with historically stronger teams in a similar way to what Japan have done. By keeping the game open and reducing the amount of set-pieces Japan are able to add an unpredictability to the game which can unsettle more traditionally structured opposition. Smith has said that it may take 8 years for the fruits of this labour to be seen but unfortunately it may be too late by then. Calls for a relegation system grow every Six Nations and with the contract between the six unions only lasting up until 2023 this could become a possibility if things carry on with how they are now. It is not necessarily that Italy have to win a game by that date to avoid this predicament, it is more that Italy have to become competitive enough that the other five unions start to think about the possibility of being sucked into the battle to avoid last place. 

I think that as an Italian fan frustrated with the recent results it is really important to take a step back at the bigger picture of what is happening. The game against Wales really was a group of Welsh men playing against Italian boys. Italy’s starting XV had just 235 caps compared to Wales who had 349 caps in their front 5 (993 in total). Italy have gone into this championship without experienced players like Sergio Parisse, Alessandro Zanni & Leonardo Ghiraldini (367 caps on their own) and without stars like Jake Polledri, Michele Campagnaro or Matteo Minozzi. While the results have been terrible I think Franco Smith is making the best of a bad situation by giving much needed international experience to players who may make the biggest impact in a few years time. Smith has said he wants to create a pool of 45 international players and the hope is that these players will now know the level that you need to aim for to be a top player. It might’ve been that players like Lamaro and Garbisi joined Benetton thinking that being competitive with their Benetton team mates was the objective, now they have a much higher ceiling to their ambitions. What will be interesting is to see what impact the return of players like Jacopo Trulla, Federico Mori, Garbisi and Lamaro will have on the form of the Italian clubs in the Pro14. It is likely that any improvements in the form of the national team will first be seen in the form of the Pro14 teams. 

Anaylsis

While their were promising signs in the initial two games of the tournament Ireland, Wales and Scotland really exposed the weaknesses in the Italian side. Their inability to control the breakdown and match up to more psychical opponents was laid bare. The Ireland match was pretty much lost before the first whistle had blown. An injury to Varney in the warm up meant Italy were not only without one of their best players but also their gameplay had to completely change. Braley in comparison to Varney is a much slower, methodical player. I am yet to be convinced by Braley, I am sure the fact that he was England U21’s captain proves that he has a good rugby mind but he has yet to find his feet for Benetton and looks even more out of place when playing for Italy. Varney and Garbisi meanwhile have a much greater relationship from playing in the Italian youth setup together. With Lamaro also being part of this collective it gives Italy a spine in the key positions where the players have experience playing with each other. If Polledri returns back in at No. 8 then this is also fine as Varney and Polledri play together at Gloucester. The problems will start to occur if one of these pieces are removed as we saw with Braley. 

Italy are really missing a dominant front five which used to be the bedrock of their game. Despite this you can see how Smith is trying to develop Italy’s game. Where once the front five was dominated by Benetton players Smith is now looking towards what Michael Bradley has been doing at Zebre and with the exception of NIcole Cannone it was a Zebre front 5 that started against Wales. This may be one explanation as to why Italy have consistently kept the ball on the field with clearing kicks. Smith obviously wants the Italian front five to be mobile and savvy enough that they can outcompete their opponents in open play rather than the set-piece. Unfortunately so far they haven’t looked up to speed with opponents and that has really hurt Italy’s performances. Another problem is that the team lacks ball carriers who are able to take the ball over the advantage line. Seb Negri put in a huge shift against Wales with 21 carries but open side Meyer was more often seen on the wing. Italy have ball carrying centres waiting in the wings with both Zanon and Mori looking for a run of consecutive performances in the first team. The return of Polledri, Steyn, Licata and Campagnaro will also see Italy with a few more options to carry the ball. 

It was hard to see anything other than another heavy defeat against Scotland but I don’t think any Italian fans were ready for a defeat like that. I expected Scotland to win comfortably but what I didn’t expect was their complete dominance of Italy in every aspect of the game. Italy simply couldn’t match their physicality. Every Scotland ball carrier was able to make meters in the tackle allowing Scotland easy momentum to break down Italy’s defence. These defensive frailties are just the tip of the iceberg. Italy’s lack of discipline was yet again their downfall. 7-0 after Bigi’s score and Italy were in a good position but a penalty for offside from a clearing kick handed Scotland an easy way back into the game and from there the game was lost. Repeated infringements and 3 yellow cards meant that Italy had no chance in the game. Every team gives away penalties but what was particularly annoying was the amount of unforced infringements which seemed down to a lack of ideas rather than an effort to slow the opposition down. But while discipline and defence are the obvious problems they are also compounded by a lack of ball carriers able to gain momentum when Italy have the ball. It has to be mentioned that Sebastian Negri had an incredible tournament often seeming like Italy’s sole option when looking to take the ball over the game line. You look through the rest of the team and there are few players able to support Negri in this role. Monty Ioane looked dangerous on the ball and Lamaro, while often unsuccessful, at least looked willing to take the ball into contact. Italy really missed the injured back rowers of Steyn, Polledri and Licata (all injured) who will inevitably add another dimension to Italy’s attacks. The centre partnership of Carlo Canna and Nacho Brex also offered little when carrying ball but it is hoped that if Campagnaro can return to form after injury that he, Mori and Zanon can provide more attacking options in the backline. 

Beyond

The Pandemic was really misfortunate for Italy and Franco Smith as the scheduled tour of the Americas was exactly what the team needed. Two easily winnable games against the USA and Canada before a real chance to test themselves against Argentina. This tour would’ve given Smith a chance to blood some of the new young players and hopefully give them a bit of confidence before the Six Nations. As a result many of the young players have joined the squad only to get demolished in the Six Nations and in Autumn Nations cup where games against Fiji and Georgia could’ve given better chances of a victory. This baptism of fire will certainly test many players mentally and may be revealing for Smith but for the fans it has become almost unbearable. With a tour of New Zealand scheduled in November it is unlikely we will see an Italy win until the end of the year when Italy move on to South America with games against Argentina and Uruguay. In the shorter term Smith will be looking for his returning internationals to have an impact with Zebre and Benetton at the end of a miserable Pro14 season and kick on in the rainbow cup.