They were two of the more dispiriting performances at the last World Cup.
After that dramatic late win in Wales two seasons ago and all the attacking promise under Kieran Crowley, for Italy to roll over and have their bellies tickled against the All Blacks, missing 33 tackles and conceding 14 tries in a 96-17 defeat, made for as demoralising a World Cup as any Italian team ever experienced. By the end it was unwatchable.
Nor did Italy particularly redeem themselves in their ensuing and final pool game against France, when losing 60-7 in the same Parc Olympique Lyonnais. With Crowley long since set to move on, it was clear that something in the squad had broken down before his last game in charge.
The pointed replacement of Michele Lamaro four minutes into the second half along with the palpable and seething fury of the Italian captain on the sidelines thereafter, appeared to confirm as much.
That made Italy’s performance when losing 27-24 against England in last week’s first Six Nations outing under new head coach Gonzalo Quesada all the more impressive. They also seemed to add a degree of pragmatism, not least in more orthodox exit strategies, while retaining some of the attacking flair from Crowley’s time.
Certainly Mike Catt, who joined Ireland as assistant coach after serving four years as attack coach with the Azzurri, was struck by the start they made under Quesada.
The Italian Job with Felipe Contepomi and Gordon D'Arcy
“They held up their hands and said they didn’t have a great World Cup,” Catt said to the Irish media in the Sports Campus Ireland on Wednesday.
“For them to come back under a new coach and perform like they did, and still have that ambition and be brave in what they did in attack, and score some brilliant tries, some amazing tries, I think it’s all credit to the players.
“You watch them defensively too, they work so hard for each other – so, so hard for each other, especially in the scramble defence and stuff like that. Defensively they’re strong, they’re strong.
“Is it a little bit more pragmatic? I think maybe it just depends who they play against, but they’ve definitely got both sides of a game they can go to. So, we’re well aware of that and we’ve got to combat that.”
It could be argued, not unreasonably, that Italy’s starter plays provide more of a threat than France did last Friday, although Catt wouldn’t go quite that far.
“Well, it’s just different. France are still exceptionally dangerous if you’re wrong. But I think they [Italy] have definitely put a little bit more time into their set piece and their starter plays. They targeted George Ford nicely and then shot down that short side. They had some really good stuff and with a little bit better execution I think they would have been away with it.”
Italy’s two first-half tries by Alessandro Garbisi and the experienced Tommaso Allan were beautifully constructed and demonstrated how quickly and smoothly their attack slipped into shape off box kicks, albeit England’s newly-minted defence under Felix Jones was having its first outing, and improved after the break.
“But it’s [also] their phase stuff, their ability to get into their phase shape and hurt teams,” said Catt of this Italian attack, adding: “The nice thing is they’ll keep progressing. They’re a week older as a group with the new coach so we expect them to be better than they were against England.”
Admittedly, even with an unchanged coaching ticket, the same should apply in the case of this Irish team. In any event, last Friday’s 38-17 win in Marseille is some base, and was the result of a productive two-week build-up in Ireland, Portugal and France.
“People were talking about hangovers from World Cups and that sort of stuff, but it was great to see the boys bouncing back in and being able to perform to a level that was acceptable and produce some brilliant stuff. Still, like the start of every competition there’s a ton of stuff you’ve to work on but we’ll take the first one.”
Catt hailed the role of experienced team-mates as well as time in the environment toward helping Jack Crowley, Calvin Nash and Joe McCarthy made assured first starts in the Six Nations.
“We still haven’t seen the best out of Jack, there’s still a lot more to go, but it’s not a bad start,” said Catt, who intimated that Farrell might rotate the squad a little against Italy, but was non-committal when asked whether Crowley needed more game time.
Even so, Catt was particularly impressed at how Crowley put mistakes behind him.
“It’s something Andy has been driving over the past number of years. It’s: ‘Don’t get in the way of yourself. Don’t worry about it. It’s gone’. For a man with inexperience to block it out like that is very good. Nothing fazes him [Crowley], like a lot of the boys in the team.”
Catt maintained that, for example, Crowley’s kick out on the full was the right decision, just not executed accurately, and understanding why is more important than game time in the role.
“No, it’s understanding it. It’s something we’ve done a lot of, making sure the players understand the why and how we do it and understand when it’s gone wrong. And, when it does go wrong it’s: ‘What is the solution and how quickly are you able to change it? So that next time, I’m in that situation I’m not going to make the same mistake again’. “I think that’s the sign of an ordinary player [compared] to a top international player.”
