Exiting Italy boss Kieran Crowley fires parting shots in final presser

Italy head coach Kieran Crowley fired a parting shot at the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) in what was probably his final press conference as boss of the Azzurri.

Italy went out on a relatively bum note after making a lot of progress under Crowley in this Rugby World Cup cycle, going down 70-7 to France in Lyon, a week after taking a pummeling from New Zealand.

Despite the progress under the New Zealander, the FIR announced that they would be parting ways with Crowley earlier this year, suggesting that all was not entirely well behind the scenes. It was a move that took many by surprise.

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Crowley fired a couple of cryptic parting shots at the FIR.

“I’ve said before I would like to take this team forward. I think the next World Cup is their cycle.

“What needs to happen, though, is these players need to start being treated with a bit of respect off the field.

“They need to get some of their stuff sorted. So, quite honestly I don’t know whether I’d want to be involved unless they get it sorted. I’d love to take these boys forward but I will be eating some sushi and watching from afar.

“It didn’t affect my performance, I don’t think, although it made for an interesting dynamic. But New Zealand have been in the same boat, haven’t they, and they’re going to the quarter-finals. Ian Foster is in the same boat. The decision was made and you’ve got to roll with it.”

"What needs to happen is that these players need to be treated with a little bit of respect off the field. Some of the things that go on with these boys…"

– Kieran Crowley's parting shot as the exiting Italy boss. #FRAvITA #Italy #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/o1zjaPpaxS

— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 7, 2023

“Teams at the top of the international level play a power game. We are just lacking a bit of that. You’ve got to play to your strengths and we tried to play to our strengths but today we gave away too many (penalties), we gave away 17 penalties.

“The teams right at the top of the tree have a very power-based game. If you are going to be really successful you are going to have to have power.”

Crowley also addressed the issue of depth in Italian rugby with just two Italian URC franchises to choose from.

“You’ve got to have the depth too. A country like France, you’ve got the Top 14 so, you’ve just to (look at) hookers – yes, I know there’s a couple of foreign hookers but every team will have at least three and at least two of those will be French. Therefore you’ve got 28 hookers running around the Top 14 and of those probably 16 or 15 of them are pretty bloody good.

“You know, we’ve got two franchises in Italy so you get two hookers, three, four (Italian) hookers. The depth is not there in that position as well.

“It’s a challenge going forward for Italy to get players game-time… because there’s only two franchises and they’re trying to win.

“Some of these boys will probably go back to the URC [United Rugby Championship] and probably not get as much rugby as they need before they come into the Six Nations, which is going to be a massive concern, particularly in the tight five.”