Good luck to O’Shea sorting out Italian mess
FORMER Treviso prop Rupert Harden reckons Italian rugby will remain in the gutter unless promotion and relegation is introduced in the Six Nations.
Harden, who spent five years at Gloucester before joining Treviso in 2014, describes English rugby as “15 year ahead” of Italy and insists off-field organisation at his new side Richmond is better than anything he encountered in Italian club rugby.
Harden, 31, told The Rugby Paper: “Italian rugby is in a really tough place. Everything’s run as a fiefdom there, with people protecting their own little patches, and I don’t see anything to change that.
“New Italy coach Conor O’Shea has got a really big job on his hands.
“Treviso’s a great place to live and I have respect for the boys I played with, but players there are enormously let down by their clubs and the federation with poor physiotherapy, poor conditioning and some really poor coaching.
“Our scrum coach last year was an ex-scrum-half who had never been in a scrum and didn’t want us to hook because he didn’t know how to coach it.
“We were basically trying to play with one hand tied behind our backs and the boys had no chance.
“They’ve changed the coaching staff with Kieran Crowley and Marco Bortolami coming in – guys who have played at the highest level – so hopefully things will change, but player welfare has been non-existent and facilities are from the stone age.”
Harden added: “English rugby is 15 years ahead and even things at Richmond, recently promoted to the Championship and a parttime club, are better organised off the field than Treviso.
“You look at Italy now and the whole country needs a mix-up. If you genuinely want to improve World Rugby, the best thing is to introduce promotion and relegation into the Six Nations and put pressure on Italy to improve across the board.
“If you did that, the Italian establishment would react, but at the moment there’s no pressure. All the home unions just seem happy to take the money from playing Italy, but that surely cannot be the purpose of a worldwide competitive sport?
“Georgia are proving their worth, Romania are improving, so you’ve got to throw them an opportunity.
“Whoever finishes bottom of the Six Nations should have a home play-off and if Georgia beat Italy, they deserve to be in the topflight.”
Harden, meanwhile, has opted for part-time rugby with Richmond under Steve Hill whilst beginning work with a technology start-up firm in the City.
The former England Saxon explained: “There was a full-time playing opportunity in France but my wife wasn’t keen and I’d had a few injuries as well, so it’s probably the right time to head in a different direction while still playing.
“It’s going to be a big learning curve for Richmond in the Championship but there’s a fair bit of talent here and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a proper rugby club that will only get stronger and hopefully we can turn a few heads.”