'I don't say this lightly. He is in the top five young players I've ever coached'
As he sips coffee in his penthouse flat in Treviso, savouring the shafts of winter sunlight that beam through the windows, Paul Gustard talks like a steam train.
He starts with the bargain price of Aperol Spritz in the walled city and its “savage” architecture. Then it’s on to Greek mythology. Playing dress-up as a Teen Wolf. Acronyms. Storytelling. Metaphors. He rattles through the gnarled Italian pack of the noughties and waxes about how they routinely butchered opposition forwards. He name-checks all 23 of his Benetton players in the current Italy squad and gives such glowing endorsements of each one that you almost convince yourself they’re going to do a number on England this Sunday.
Thirteen months after leaving Harlequins, and his first experience as director of rugby, Benetton brings a familiar remit with new challenges. Twenty-seven players departed last month on international duty and the club has to find ways of replacing them. Gustard is in charge of defence, the area he loves and through which he made his name. His crafting of the Saracens wolfpack gave rise to all sorts of merchandise, branding and even a club awards video featuring Gustard surfing on the team kit van dressed as the Michael J Fox’s Teen Wolf character. His Italian is more pidgin than perfect but he needs to immerse himself in the place to show the players his authenticity.
“If you’re trying to give your soul, you need them to understand. And for them to understand, you need to try and speak in their language,” Gustard says. “I’ve often used imagery and metaphors and storytelling in rugby – all powerful tools.
“We have the lion on our crest and ‘forza leoni’ written everywhere. I’ve created an acronym based on the word lions. L for line speed. I for intent in the hit. O is on your feet. N is next job. And S is spacing. There is a checklist in players’ minds – sprint off the line, hit someone as hard as I can, get up and ready to go again, and get my spacing. We don’t want people to overthink defence.
“Having 27 players away really fine-tunes your coaching, you have to think about where players are at physically, emotionally, tactically and technically, because they just haven’t played as much.
“We only had 26 to choose from against Dragons [on 28th January] of which eight were front-rowers. I saw real togetherness and fight with the group to get a very creditable draw. The group are very, very willing to work. They don’t complain.”
These traits appeal to Gustard and he enthuses about the talent at his disposal. Benetton are led by 23-year-old Michele Lamaro, Kieran Crowley’s immediate choice as Italy captain when he took over as head coach, and a man who could steer the Azzurri for a decade yet.
“He reminds me of Chris Robshaw,” Gustard says. “I don’t like using other players’ names and I certainly wouldn’t drop one like Chris’ unless I believed this kid was in the same ballpark. A lot of things Chris did, Michele does as well.
Michele Lamaro's first ever pre-match team talk as captain of Italy was spine-tingling.
Facing Goliath is live now on our YT channel! ???#FacingGoliath pic.twitter.com/7ImWazSoZR
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 2, 2022
“Both have a very low error rate. Both have this uncanny knack of being around the ball when things mattered. Both are able to distribute in attack at the right time. Both are very strong over ball. Both have huge, huge work rates. By 20 minutes against France, Michele had made nine tackles. By 60, he’d made over 20. He has real stopping power for a 107-108KG guy and an insatiable appetite to work.”
Gianmarco Luccheshi, the young hooker, gets talked up for his breakdown potency and the tattoo on his arm declaring ‘if you want peace, you must be ready to fight’. Federico Ruzza, whose carry set up Italy’s try in Paris, is likened to Tom Croft. Back-up fly-half Leonardo Marin “kicks like a mule”. Monty Ioane is “a star player who can beat three or four people in a phonebox”.
There’s an extra dollop of praise for Tommaso Menoncello, the centre/wing who at 19, became the youngest try-scorer of the Six Nations era with a majestic finish against the French.
“This kid is a bit of a freak. He’s big, very, very fast and has a massive engine. The numbers he crunches in training are phenomenal.
“I don’t say this too lightly, but he is in the top five young players I’ve ever coached. So freakish, it’s hard to describe. His softer skills and passing game will come but he runs hard and straight and defends really well. He is a top-class 13 playing out of position.”
So how can Italy, and the players under his tutelage, manipulate the defence Gustard used to run? The heinousness of their championship record is well-documented – winless since 2015; an eye-watering 239 points shipped last season and only six tries scored. Gustard is fond of recounting the tale of King Sisyphus, condemned to roll a boulder up a hill every day for eternity, and to borrow from the myth, Italy are trying to shunt the thing up Mount Everest.
“To get some reward, their back-field decision-making has to be better than it was against France,” Gustard says. “We know England will kick. Italy put themselves under too much pressure, they exposed themselves and gave space to France. Marcus Smith, Henry Slade and Elliot Daly are all good enough to find grass and have a better kick-chase than France.
“To break England down, they need to keep possession when they decide to play in that middle third. When it gets unstructured, there will be opportunities to find a little space between a group which is still finding organisation.
“And they have to be more effective when they get in the 22. They have to come away with more points. That’s been a real downfall in the past four games.
“If you come away with points from every other visit to the 22, that’s an unbelievably high return. They need to get something like 4/10, that kind of ratio. They need to be at the very top end of that because they know they’re going to concede points.
“Their super-strength is around the breakdown. Their skill is innate, and being a slightly different size to some back-rowers around, they are exceptional over the ball. That’s how they can get into the game. If they can frustrate England, and England make mistakes as France did, and if it’s a three-, five-, nine-point game at 60 minutes, that is progress for Italy. I don’t think they will win, and as an Englishman I don’t want them to win, but I’d be delighted for the players who are involved.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I hope Leinster’s proud of themselves fielding a poor team. They should decide if they’re all in or not.
1 Go to commentsJordie is looking at 16 games maximum if Leinster reach both the URC and champions cup finals. Thats not guaranteed. Some of those home URC fixtures will be cakewalks as well for Leinster and there is not much doing during the 6 nations in Feb and March so he can probably get a decent rest then. He will have to really put in it for maybe 7 or 8 games max. It should be a good move for both.
13 Go to commentsThe game was a quarter final, not a semi final. Barrett will be here for 6 months, he is no one's replacement at 13. That mantle will most likely ultimately go to Jamie Osborne, though Garry Ringrose has at least 4 more years in him. The long term problem position (in the next 3 years) for Leinster is tighthead prop, though there are a couple of prospects at schools level.
23 Go to commentsSo much for all that hype surrounding the ‘revival’ of Aussie rugby. The Blues were without the likes of regular starters Perofeta, Sullivan, Christie etc… This was a capitulation of the highest order by Australia’s finest. Joe Schmidt definitely has his work cut out for him.
2 Go to commentsYes they can ignore Sotutu. Like Akira Ioane plays OK at Super level but gets lost in tests. Too many chances too many failures.
2 Go to commentsA wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
13 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
13 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
6 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
25 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
6 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to comments