The player missing from Italy's historic win has his say

Italy captain Michele Lamaro says he could not have been prouder watching his teammates claim a famous 26–19 victory over Australia in Udine — even if doing so from the sidelines was “very difficult to accept.”

The flanker, currently sidelined through injury, was speaking to BenTV as Treviso resumed training during the November break.

Lamaro admitted he is desperate to get back on the field but took clear satisfaction in what he called a “really exciting” result for Italian rugby.

“Personally, I felt very good before this small hitch,” he said. “I think it’s part of the game — we are professional sportsmen and injuries are just around the corner. In this case it is a small thing that will keep me out for another, maximum two games. From some points of view this is reassuring: then, the fact that there are two or three games of this calibre with the Italy shirt, missing them is always very difficult to accept, but if the result is this, with the boys entering the field and beating Australia, it was really exciting.”

The 27-year-old watched from the stands as Gonzalo Quesada’s men produced a stirring second-half comeback to record just their second ever victory over the Wallabies.

For Lamaro, it was a performance that showed the depth and maturity now emerging within the Italian setup.

“Having the opportunity to watch it from the outside was something different — obviously I wanted to be on the pitch,” he said. “The boys played really well and I noticed how much they inspired those who watched them. This is a point that we often repeat within the group, that of sharing with those who follow us and with ourselves in the group, what we are doing and who we are. I think Saturday was a great opportunity to show that.”

Lamaro, who has led Italy since 2021, believes the momentum generated by the Test squad’s success can spill over into Benetton’s URC campaign, with a cluster of Treviso players having played key roles in the win over Joe Schmidt’s side.

“I think that the enthusiasm that is created with a national team that wins, at a time when there are the most important matches at international level and many Benetton Rugby players perform at their best, is good for the club in itself,” he said. “Not just the excitement that is created in these three weeks off, where you have time to work on some aspects of the game that you can’t always spend so much time on during the season. I believe that these two things together mean that on the return we can take a great step forward; this will be the goal.”

Before joining up with Italy again, Lamaro’s focus will return to Benetton’s league form. He said the early part of their season had been “up and down” but insisted the group had shown enough to suggest further progress is coming.

“The first part of the season was a bit up and down,” he said. “We put in excellent performances, I’m thinking of those against Glasgow and the Lions, but there are things we need to work on in light of our away games. I am referring to the match against Edinburgh, it is an approach that we cannot afford. The last game against the Stormers was approached in the right way, against a great team. We were unable to keep what was the score created in the first half. I am convinced that we have a lot of room for improvement that we can develop during the season. It’s a start to the season that suits us, even if we could have done something more.”