EXCLUSIVE: Azzuri 'nowhere near' England or Ireland - O'Shea gives brutal assessment
Conor O’Shea accepts his Italy team will need England to suffer a serious drop in performance to give the Azzuri any chance of pulling off a shock win against the reigning champions when the Six Nations kicks off in Rome on February 4.
The Italians ended a series of nine losses by winning their opening November Test against Fiji 19-10 in Sicily, however, defeats by Argentina(31-15) and South Africa(35-6) mean the Azzuri are once again cast in the role of also-rans in the Six Nations.
At least O’Shea can take comfort in the knowledge his team are already qualified for the 2019 World Cup in Japan where they are the same pool as the All Blacks and Springboks and while that is a daunting group, he is not under the kind of pressure that saw Italian football manager Gian Piero Ventura recently sacked for failing to reach the World Cup in Russia.
O’Shea started his Italian job in the summer of 2016 and remains remarkably upbeat despite only boasting a record of four wins from 17 games in charge. The former Ireland fullback knows he will be judged by the wider rugby community on those results, but given the weaknesses, he is addressing in the sport in Italy, he insists important steps have been taken towards a brighter and more successful future.
Of course, the arrival of England, chasing a third successive Six Nations title, is a potentially damaging opener and with Ireland at home followed by France away, the headlines could make for painful reading.
The good news for Italy is that their head coach is up for the fight and his mixture of unrelenting enthusiasm and realism is refreshing. O’Shea’s Italy team totally flummoxed England at Twickenham last year by refusing to create a ruck or an offside line and Eddie Jones was far from impressed. Laws have been changed since that remarkable match and O’Shea said: “I have been around long enough to know that people will comment on our loss to South Africa without even looking at the match and what happened in the game. We are a lot better a year on as a rugby team but like last year, England will be massive favourites and the changes World Rugby made means we can’t cause the same problems as we did for them at Twickenham!
“Do we need England to under-perform and us to perform at our very best in Rome? Yes. The same is true against Ireland and our aim in the coming years is to get back into the World’s top 10( they are 14th).
“We are fitter as an international squad but still nowhere near the level to play against England and Ireland. For 20 years Italy drifted and now we are making the changes to be better while working within our means. I would feel really down if I didn’t see the progress that is being made around the country.
“It is a long old slog we have ahead of us but we will get there and I am pretty positive – as I always am – because we do have good young players coming through. Rome wasn’t built in a day and it was never going to be easy but there are significant strides being made and we are where Scotland were five or six years ago
“The quality of the work done by Benetton Rugby and Zebre Rugby, and more generally at all levels of Italian rugby, is starting to have a real impact on the quality and quantity of players at our disposition. We are growing together with the franchises and they are more competitive and with Zebre now controlled by the Union then we will work to get that squad deeper in the coming seasons. Benetton are in a very good place and as they get stronger with Academies being put in place, then important strides are being made.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
190 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
190 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
2 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
2 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
1 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
190 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
190 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
190 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
190 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
190 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
190 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
190 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the desperation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
190 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
190 Go to comments