Italy: Rugby needs to take a long, hard look at itself

Rome: Italy were never expected to make the knockout stages of the Rugby World Cup, but ending with a 60-7 loss to France on the back of a 96-17 hammering by New Zealand has raised doubts over the future of Italian rugby.

Italy kicked off the tournament as expected, two wins from their opening games to set them up for a shot at history. However, they failed to impress in their 52-8 win over Namibia and only came alive in a second-half comeback to beat Uruguay 38-17.

What followed has shown how far Italy still are from the top sides, even after 24 seasons of Six Nations rugby.

“If 15 days ago there was enthusiasm for having qualified for World Cup 2027, the minimum objective, now we find ourselves with two heavy defeats and we can’t hide from that,” Marzio Innocenti, president of the Italian Rugby Federation, said. “It’s time to stop saying we are happy to play at the World Cup without then being protagonists.”

A shell-shocked Italy were overwhelmed by New Zealand and although facing France was never going to be an easy task, in this year’s Six Nations they only lost to them by five points.

Coach Kieran Crowley knew coming into this tournament that it would be his last with Italy, a factor some believe may not have helped their cause.

“It didn’t affect my performance, I don’t think, although it made for an interesting dynamic,” Crowley said. “These players need to start being treated with a bit of respect off the field. They need to get some of their stuff sorted.”

Italy’s future is in the hands of their next manager, Gonzalo Quesada.

“Before the two years (with Crowley) Italy rugby was in a state really. He’s a great man. He made the environment amazing for us, changed the way we played. It’s obviously sad to see him go,” Italy scrum-half Stephen Varney said.

“When the new head coach comes in now, hopefully he’ll have the same influence Kieran has had.”

If Italian rugby is to gain a bigger foothold at home, and win back respect abroad, Argentine Quesada must start winning games against Tier One nations – or at the very least not repeat the humiliations suffered at this World Cup.

France will not take the “slightest risk” with captain Antoine Dupont after he was cleared to resume full training ahead of Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final against South Africa.

Scrum-half Dupont has been sidelined since suffering a broken cheekbone during the hosts’ 96-0 victory over Namibia on September 21.

The 26-year-old underwent surgery on the injury, which was caused by a head-on tackle from Namibia captain Johan Deysel. He was originally cleared to resume “progressive physical activity”.

Dupont will be assessed after every training session, with team health manager Bruno Boussagol insisting the Toulouse player will not be prematurely rushed back into competitive action.

“There was no fallout from his injury and he was able to rapidly increase the pace of his training sessions with the physical trainers,” Boussagol told a press conference Monday. “For the moment he will train normally but we will do this in an intelligent manner.

“The contact and stepping it up in training will be done pretty rapidly, we have three days to test him and to see his reaction.

“After every training session he will be assessed. In any case it is unthinkable that we would take the slightest risk to bring Antoine back prematurely into the team unless he is in full possession of all his capabilities.”

France head coach Fabien Galthie is due to name his matchday squad to face the Springboks on Friday, with Dupont set to have the final say on his availability.

Bordeaux’s Maxime Lucu deputised at scrum-half for Les Bleus’ final Pool A match, a 60-7 victory over Italy on Friday.

According to Boussagol, 2021 world player of the year Dupont had tested wearing a scrum cap to provide some facial protection but needed to be assured he will “not be restricted in terms of hearing or vision”.

“All his concerns regarding his first contact session have already been analysed,” added Boussagol.

“When he returned to the squad we reduced the swelling (on his cheekbone), we performed rehab on the area of his face most affected by the blow and our osteopath worked on his skull.

“Dupont has not complained of a specific pain or is undergoing any particular treatment.

“The mending of the bone is progressing normally and that is why the surgeon gave the green light (for training).”

Australians are among the most enthusiastic gamblers on the planet so it is perhaps no surprise the country’s worst-ever Rugby World Cup campaign was built on two high-stakes decisions.

The first in January by Rugby Australia supremo Hamish McLennan to sack Dave Rennie and bring back Eddie Jones as coach may yet, he hopes, pay dividends in the future.

The second by Jones to dump the experienced core of the squad and roll the dice on youth was an abject failure as the Wallabies, now ranked 10th in the world, bowed out of the World Cup in the pool stage for the first time.

“It didn’t have to be like this,” Bernard Foley, one of the experienced playmakers left out of the squad, posted on social media platform X after the devastating 40-6 loss to Wales which put the campaign on life support.

Rugby Australia knows there are structural issues in the game that need to be sorted out and looks likely to retain their trust in Jones as the man to take the Wallabies forward to the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour and the World Cup two years later.

Jones accepted that his gamble on youth was “high risk” but thought that, forged in fire, there was now the basis of a decent team that could compete with the big boys of the game again in the not-too-distant future.

“It’s just a continuation of what we are doing,” he said last week. “Work hard, be focused on developing an Australian style of rugby, players to take more individual responsibility, the leadership group to keep growing and in nine months’ time we will be a different team.”

Romania started their World Cup with a bang when Gabriel Rupanu scored a try after three minutes against Ireland and they finished with a battling defeat versus Tonga but in between it has been a chastening experience.

That first game against Ireland turned into an 82-8 thrashing which they followed by losing 76-0 to the Springboks then 84-0 to Scotland.

They showed much more grit against a lively Tonga on Sunday, battling back from 21-3 down to 21-17 at halftime before eventually falling away to lose 45-24.

It was hardly the uplifting return the sport Romania needed after they were banned from the 2019 tournament for fielding an ineligible player – the only World Cup they have missed.

The glory days of the 1970s and 80s are long gone and destined never to return as the game struggles for players and attention. Since the game turned professional in 1995 they have managed one win against a Tier One team – edging Italy 25-24 in 2004 -and their main focus each year is trying, and usually failing, to beat Georgia in the European Nations Cup.

Unsurprisingly they rank near the bottom of almost all of this World Cup’s performance metrics.

The sport is in trouble in the country from top to bottom. “We need more tough and intense games,” said coach Eugen Apjok, echoing the lament of every Tier Two coach in France and at just about every previous World Cup.

“Fitness is an issue for us and of course it’s hard to prepare in short time. What players do at home and with their clubs has a huge impact and they need to take the right steps.

“We expected to struggle in those first three games but our lack of physical preparation played a part today and gave Tonga too much space. We’re not used to playing such intense games as frequently as this.”

Asked about the potentially negative impact of the thrashings his team have suffered, Apjok said the problems were much more fundamental than not having heroes to look up to.

“We are trying to attract young people but the problem is infrastructure,” he said. “There are no stadiums, no strategy – it’s very hard to attract them to rugby if they haven’t got decent facilities.”