The coach takes stock of the first part of his management to OnRugby, but warns: “Today there are not the same conditions for preparing for the Six Nations. We need to rethink the periods of availability of the players to ensure greater balance”
Italy, two years of Gonzalo Quesada: “Australia and Wales were the best victories. Ireland was the match that made me angriest” – ph. Sebastiano Pessina
Two years of Gonzalo Quesada’s management, two years that somehow changed Italian rugby. The Argentine coach took over a promising team that had already achieved important results, but which was coming off a terrible defeat at the last World Cup and seemed unable to make the definitive leap in quality. In these two years there were 5 wins (and a draw) in 2024 and 4 wins in 2025.
To draw a definitive balance sheet of the first two years in Italy OnRugby interviewed Gonzalo Quesada himself who, in a long interview of which we are publishing the first part today, takes stock of the situation while also addressing all the issues related to the future of the Azzurri and the Rugby World Cup 2027.
Did you expect the many important results obtained in these two years?
“At the beginning, when I arrived, I didn’t expect to be able to win certain matches straight away, I thought it would take a little more time. Much credit to the work of all the staff who were excellent from day one, and above all credit to the players who immediately implemented what we had defined from day one: a team project and their own game plan, clear for everyone, solid and exciting. They showed so much conviction, so much speed in execution and an incredible work ethic. This is also why I tried to learn Italian straight away, because from the beginning I wanted to define our path with the staff and players, where we wanted to go, who we wanted to be and how we wanted to do it. The boys were excellent and in the end they were rewarded by the results and performances, which arrived faster than expected.”
What was the best match?
“It’s difficult to choose between the victory in Wales in 2024 and the one against Australia in 2025, but I believe that these two were the best ever. True, we also beat Scotland, obtaining a historic success after 10 years, but what we then did in Wales has enormous value, especially for how we dominated the match without ever getting into difficulty and for having achieved an objective that we had set for ourselves: that of continuity and consistency, given that we were coming from the victory in Scotland and since the draw in France. Italy had rarely managed to produce three consecutive performances of this level before that Six Nations. And then against Australia we managed the match well from the first minute, executing and respecting the game plan perfectly: as a coach these are the matches I like the most, because I see the team prepare a strategy all week and then bring it perfectly onto the pitch, I see the boys all convinced, the leaders taking control of the group. They are the best matches, the ones we dominated Australia was coming off important victories: the Lions, South Africa.”
The match that left you with the most regrets?
“The match against Argentina, because the gap (50-18 in November 2024, ed.) had nothing to do with our value and we weren’t able to prepare it as we wanted, with half the team suffering from food poisoning which impacted the approach to the match. Even so, we arrived at the match with good energy and playing a good first half, making many positive actions. Many don’t remember it, but we made more breaks than Argentina, we created many opportunities, we conceded two interceptions that we absolutely could have avoided, we had two clear opportunities to score in which the Pumas had committed two very clear fouls that were not called. Then we managed some situations badly and in the end we found ourselves with a terrible final gap, because we knew that Argentina was still a big step ahead of us, but it would have been nice to have been able to come into the match in the best conditions to really compete.”
The match that made you the most angry?
“The last of the 2025 Six Nations with Ireland. We faced a team that was fighting to win the Six Nations and we played a great game, dominating, managing the game well, attacking well, defending well. We deserved to win, but we got 3 avoidable cards that turned the game around, and that’s why looking back on it makes me angry. A victory against Ireland would have allowed us to close a very irregular Six Nations in style, and we would have beaten a team that had come to Rome to try to win the tournament.”
The list could be very long, given the growth of many kids in recent years, but what was the progression that most impressed you?
“Yes, there would be many names, but if I had to say just one I would choose Ross Vintcent: he demonstrated personality, character, great physical, playing and above all human qualities. Every time he played with us he gained confidence in himself, giving a lot to the team and for two years he has always been progressing.”
How difficult was it to manage, especially the players working abroad, who often arrived with enormous playing time, or vice versa very little?
“I believe it is necessary to rethink the preparation windows for the Six Nations, standardizing as much as possible the availability periods of the internationals who play in countries other than those they represent, to guarantee greater balance and uncertainty to the competition. Today there are not the same preparation conditions: Ireland, England and France are together for two complete weeks, Wales and Scotland have a maximum of 2-3 players away and for the rest they always work together. We all meet on Monday morning, then on Wednesday afternoon those who play abroad take the plane, play on the weekend, take another plane and returns on Monday to prepare for the first match of the Six Nations on Saturday. This is the situation: the international governing bodies must find a solution, together with the Federation. It is in the interest of the tournament and of rugby.”
After two years, can we draw an initial assessment of Italy’s evolution?
“We started with a group and a staff still a little marked by what had happened at the 2023 World Cup: for this reason I am very proud and admired by this staff and this group of players, together we managed to change the dynamics of events by starting immediately with a good Six Nations. In the first two meetings we did in-depth work with the players to define a common vision, a team project, our values and our culture. Once we had defined our team project we built our playing identity. We had this idea: to have a strong team culture, with solid foundations in conquest and defense, and maintaining the offensive DNA that characterized Italy but with greater solidity in the foot game. After a positive Six Nations we had a good summer tour despite a somewhat strange defeat against Samoa, certainly also influenced by the logistical difficulties of a complicated tour, with many transfers between New Zealand and the Pacific islands and with an additional eleven hours of flight from Auckland to Tokyo and then to Sapporo to play against Japan. Finally, November served as an experience for us 2025, with preparation in Rome as headquarters and long transfers to the match venues: we achieved an important victory against Georgia and played a beautiful match against New Zealand, and understood how to best optimize our logistics and our travel to improve our work”.
Was the second year the year of confirmation, albeit with some missteps?
“In the second year we wanted to consolidate this team culture, make it clear to everyone what ‘being Italy’ meant, adding some options in our game in order to evolve and be even less predictable. We had a somewhat irregular second Six Nations, with a good start in Scotland, an important victory against Wales, two heavy losses against England and France and a beautiful last game against Ireland, where with a little more discipline we could have won. The summer tour allowed us to increase the options available to us, with a victory clear in Namibia and a great first match against South Africa, even if in the second the difference that still exists with the Springboks came out. We finished with a beautiful November: a match against Australia in which we performed in every aspect of the game – defence, conquest, attack – and a good performance against South Africa, with the red card which paradoxically took away some reference points from us first half, avoiding conceding too easy a try in the last scrum before half-time. The last victory against Chile did not leave us satisfied, but in any case we had made many changes and we had a team in front of us that really cared about this match, and in the end we brought home the result. We are progressing along the path and we can be satisfied with what we have done so far, but we must not stop, we are on a clear path of growth and we want to go even further.”
See you tomorrow for the second part of our long interview with coach Azzurro.
Francesco Palma
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