Six Nations 2019: Scotland & Treviso provide hope of competitive Italy campaign
There appears little reason for optimism as Italy prepare to start their 2019 Six Nations campaign.
With no wins in the competition since 2015, three consecutive wooden spoons and a run of 17 successive defeats in the tournament, Conor O’Shea’s Azzurri appear poised to resume their role as Six Nations whipping boys when they visit Murrayfield on Saturday.
However, O’Shea is inspired by the turnaround Scotland have enjoyed in recent times, having gone from winless also-rans four years ago to contenders last season, beating France, England and Italy en route to a third-placed finish.
“They’re a great example to everybody of what you can do when you get your structures right,” O’Shea said.
“And it’s not something that happened overnight. I think it’s a perfect, perfect demonstration to Italian rugby what can be achieved with patience and perseverance. That’s it in a nutshell.”
Hopes of a similar upturn in fortunes are boosted by the performances of Benetton Treviso in the Pro14. Scotland’s 2018 revival came amid a season in which Glasgow Warriors finished first in their Conference and reached the semi-finals of that competition, and Treviso are in position to reach the playoffs this season, with the Veneto club second in Conference B.
Nineteen members of Italy’s squad play their club rugby for Treviso but O’Shea does not expect any instant returns in terms of their success translating to the international level.
A year ago @Federugby were three minutes away from beating @Scotlandteam ?
Conor O'Shea wants to see his team rewarded for their efforts in the 2019 #GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/bj6iT8v2aE
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) January 25, 2019
“There’s no magic wand in life. It’s hard work. I’ve loved seeing it [Scotland’s project] evolve. I think it’s a great example to everyone who wants their nation to make the most of what it is,” he added.
On whether Scotland’s success has been instructive for him as he attempts to transform an Azzurri team ranked 15th in the world, O’Shea added: “Hugely, in terms of me trying to say, ‘look, this is a long haul and we are going to have some very tough times’.
“You can see in the performances of Treviso. We took over Zebre only a year ago and we have a plan in place. But let’s talk about the here and now. Against Scotland we know that, if we get our performance levels right, then we can be very competitive.”
Being regularly competitive would be a huge step for Italy, who suffered defeats by margins of 37, 31, 24 and 17 points last year, with a 29-27 loss to Scotland the only occasion on which they threatened an upset.
Their hopes will not be helped by the absence of Zebre full-back Matteo Minozzi, who was second only to Jacob Stockdale (7) in the Six Nations try-scoring charts last season, crossing four times.
O’Shea remains upbeat, though, and expects progress to be made in the coming weeks.
“We’ve had some good performances and some difficult days,” he said. “Our big step is to take a big scalp and get back up to that top table. That’s what everyone is working for. The more you put yourselves in the position, the luckier you’ll get. It’s that old Gary Player thing.
“With all the work we’re doing in Italian rugby, we will get there. But we know this Six Nations will be the most competitive so far.”
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments