Key for Azzurri is to discover an ‘Italian way’
Aquestion I am asked by every rugby fan in Italy is what is it that holds the national team back? An understanding of the culture around competition here gives an insight into why Italian rugby is seen as struggling to make the transition from development to performance.
The first thing you notice when you walk into any Italian rugby club is the number of cups and trophies. It is a matter of personal pride for every president to have shelves of silver commemorating historic victories from U6 to Veterans – or ‘Rugby Old’ as it is called here!
Parents chanting club names while watching, with air horns and smoke flares at junior games is not unusual, in fact it is a great spectacle. Success is celebrated wildly…defeat is a disaster.
This breeds a culture where short cuts to victory at junior level are rewarded – give the ball to the big kid, let them smash through. It works if you want to win a cup today; not if you want players to have the skills to play the game well when they are 20 years old.
This is made more of an issue as in Italy we have two-year age bands due to lower player numbers. A good little player coming out of U12 will not usually get selected for the U14 if the coach needs to win his cup!
Italy U18 and U20 consistently perform well at international level thanks to a well-regarded academy. All of the other Six Nations have had nasty shocks against Italy – indeed it happens now often enough for it not to be a shock to see them turn over one of the others.
Good athletes, well prepared should predict a bright future for the game in Italy. However, there are a couple of speed bumps on the road to transferring this potential into the PRO14 and Six Nations.
One is this obsession in junior rugby with winning a tournament today as it produces players who are perfectly prepared for the game as it was five years ago, without the ability to adapt to inevitable changes in the game.
The other barrier is that following successful U20 campaigns, the players are expected to spend two years at a Top 12 club rather than join the Zebre or Benetton franchises. While there are good links between the Top 12 clubs and the franchises, the environment in the Top 12 is not like that of an English Premiership club.
The concept is well intentioned in that the guys get much more game time than young English counterparts, and the Top 12 is strengthened as a league by their presence, but is it converting promising young players into top internationals?
My club, Colorno, are in the Top 12 – the top tier of club rugby in Italy. We are eight miles from Zebre, and work closely with them to support the direction they are heading. Mike Bradley, head coach there, is creating a model which will eventually change the cycle of under achievement.
A couple of English guys, Jamie Elliot formerly of Saints, and Charlie Walker from Quins along with Dave Sisi with his experience, and a couple of Irish second row imports are bringing a Northern Hemisphere approach to performance, which is perhaps closer to the Italian view of rugby than the Antipodean experience, which has been the prevailing model. In the same way, at Colorno we have a couple of young English talents – Fred Tuilagi (of the rugby dynasty) and Ollie Smith.
But key to the next step for Italy is discovering the Italian way. Italian rugby is developing enough talented athletes to perform. It needs to take the best from overseas expertise – but have the confidence to do things the Italian way; be brave and creative in finding solutions.
This is the country of powerful fast cars, the world’s most creative fashion, and the best food – that creativity translated into rugby would transform the world game. This World Cup will be tough given the Pool Italy are in – but it will be positive for Italian rugby if it helps build confidence in the country’s emerging systems.