Despite the faint hopes of the day before, the Azzurri were swept away.
– Ovalia for a long time he has been discussing the future of rugby, poised between strengthening the elite and including the so-called tier 2 in the banquet that counts. Italy, which has been living in limbo for some time, is rarely included in this discussion. We could define it tier 1.5: rich enough to no longer collapse on the floor below, the one that belonged to it until it entered the Six Nations, but not strong enough to establish itself permanently in the tier 1. Is the difference technical? Physics? Mental? The answer would be a discussion of the highest systems and not a scattered consideration. But we can limit the picture to this match. Italy’s performance against the All Blacks in Lyon can be attributed above all to the mental level. A mentally strong team does not leave the field after the opponent’s second try. Especially after Beauden Barrett sensationally missed a restart kick, a significant sign of the pressure that the all blacks were under. In that minute after the second try, the match loses meaning. The third try comes from a run by Ardie Savea who attacks a space near the meeting point, with two scrum players who would have time and space to tackle him. Lamaro misses on the outside corner, Negri remains motionless on the inside. Is it a difficult situation? Does it arise from a game structure that creates great uncertainty for the defense? Not at all. Yet, Italy falls apart and leaves the field.
– That it’s a mental issue is demonstrated by the start of the second half. The first blue actions are of great quality, from a team that manages the multi-phase well and reads the opposing defense well. Advancing both with the forwards, to fix the play, and with the backs, creating second lines of attack and loop effective. The goal of Capuozzo it is the result of a very well executed action, in positioning and running lines, starting from a touch near the New Zealand goal. It was the third time that Italy found itself in that situation, in the space of a few minutes, and only the third time it proposed a rugby classic: a few meters from the goal you don’t throw on the very last block. You look for the simplest and safest solution because the opponent generally lets you play it, waits for you on the ground and counters it maul. Everything else follows a golden rule of the oval ball: I respect you on the pitch by playing your hardest until the last second. Not showing up on the field? You concede 101 points, as happened in 1999, and you take them all. Today there were 96, it doesn’t make a big difference.
Let’s take a step back: Could this Italy really beat the All Blacks, as was written in a nuanced manner and hoped for in the Italian rugby world? Yes, she could beat them. Not because the ball has a thousand bounces and we start from 0-0. The two teams arrived at the match in almost opposite psycho-physical conditions: Italy could count on confidence in their playing structures, in the quality of the individuals and the serenity of facing an “impossible” group. He reinforced all this with two convincing performances with Namibia and Uruguay, what a team makes tier 1. New Zealand did not arrive with these certainties, neither from the point of view of the game nor in terms of the quality of the individuals. There is a lot of perplexity in their homeland and they have sat on the table of the favorites only because there is a void behind the big ones (France, South Africa and Ireland): the matches glimpsed so far have demonstrated this. The opening match against France saw a dull New Zealand on the field, with the exception of Tele’a, who disappeared from the field as the minutes passed.
– These elements are factual, they are what high-level teams compete and measure themselves on. By taking advantage of a positive moment and taking advantage of another’s negative moment, when you start from an advantageous position. Or by overturning the table and the prediction, giving a signal of strength if you are in difficulty. Here the mentality of a high level team fits in, this is the step taken, in recent years, by Argentine rugby with two peaks: the 2015 world championship semi-final and the final of the Jaguars in Super Rugby 2019. Here is the great lack of the Italian men’s national team from 2000 to today – the women have taken that step. Here is the obligation that Crowley’s Italy has before it: to beat France. And even if he lost by one point, playing a fabulous match, he would have lost twice, because it would mean having the qualities to win against the giants but not knowing how to exploit them when needed. The real lesson of the All Blacks is this: Italy must learn to overcome a difficult moment, with consequent pressure, by playing great.
– The time of pride or exploits is over, the time of success must be seized: this is the legacy that Italy must take from Crowley’s management. That of a coach who, when he came close to achieving the feat at Thomond Park with Benetton, said that such a defeat was “difficult to digest”. And he lost by two points, not by eighty like today. Italy can redeem itself as early as October 6th, without passing on the responsibility to the Quesada management and the hope of finding a more accessible group in 2027. Italy can still get through, beating France well. It can write its story again, do what Fiji is trying to do. It’s all in the players’ heads, only there.
2023-09-29 21:57:52
#Rugby #ZealandItaly #scattered #considerations
