The italian challenge: new kids on block have element of surprise in
0 Comments | Herald, The; Glasgow (UK), Sep 3, 2010
The 2009/10 season was pretty rough for Llanelli Scarlets but the Magners League schedulers have taken no pity on them with tomorrow’s opening challenge in the new campaign.
Any Scotland supporter capable of throwing his mind back a decade can tell them there could be no worse opening fixture than to meet an Italian side on their home patch as they make their first appearance in a competition.
It was when Italy first joined the Six Nations Championship that Scotland were drawn to meet them in their first match in Millennium year. Scotland had no reason to be short of confidence. As reigning Five Nations champions they were supposed to have had an additional boost with the return of the grand slam-winning coach of a further 10 years earlier, Ian McGeechan.
On a glorious afternoon in Rome the thumbs of the masses were turned down as the Scots were put to the sword.
Perhaps even more pertinently, Scotland’s previous visit to Italy had also been a humbling day. Then, in the true hotbed of Italian rugby, at the Stadio Monigo in Treviso, a defeat was suffered which cost Richie Dixon and David Johnston, their coaching jobs.
It is to that same venue that the Scarlets must go tomorrow and they can expect a hostile reception in what is sure to be a packed stadium.
It will, of course, also be a stern test for the home team who are unused to playing at such a level in its domestic rugby, having largely dominated the Italian league in the professional era.
That said, Benetton Treviso have, down the years, won 16 Heineken Cup matches, all bar a couple of them at the Stadio Monigo, including last season’s victory in their opening match against Perpignan.
What was already the best established club in Italy has been strengthened by the money injected as the Italians have re- distributed the best of the rest to their two Magners League teams.
It may be a different story when they find themselves travelling up to the Celtic countries as the nights grow darker and colder, but visits to Treviso can be expected to be very tough assignments for all concerned from the off.
For all that Aironi have probably the better individuals so have made optimistic noises with Josh Sole, their international flanker, claiming that without wanting to sound overly arrogant they think finishing seventh or eighth is a realistic target, namely ahead of four or five of the Celtic teams, the newly formed club may find things a bit more difficult.
By contrast they could hardly have been given a harder opener as they head for Munster’s Thomond Park stronghold, hardly the place for a scratch team to make its first competitive appearance a week after they were thrashed 38-5 in their final pre-season friendly at Northampton Saints.
With a full team of Italian internationalists and some at their disposal, they have also recruited well from outwith the country, bringing the vastly experienced French stand off Ludovic Mercier to the club and, perhaps most usefully of all for this first game at least, former Munster No.8 Nick Williams to the club.
He offered a more realistic assessment of where his new team is right now when observing this week that up against the strength, traditions and pride of one of European rugby’s most powerful organisations, the solitary thing in Aironi’s favour for tomorrow’s match in Limerick is the element of surprise.
That will remain the case for the Italian teams throughout the season as, albeit the analysts will already be hard at work on them, these collections of extremely rugged and highly talented men are too good not to pick up a fair number of wins, doubtless when least expected.
It is to the longer term that we must look, however, and what is beyond question is that their inclusion in the Magners League is good news for world, European and, most particularly, Italian rugby since the exposure of around 40 Italian international players to the week-in, week-out challenge of one of the world’s best leagues, will undoubtedly benefit them.
Having seen the strides made by the Italian national side in the past 10 years since that (delete according to allegiance) famous/ notorious afternoon at the Stadio Flaminio, it is little wonder that some at Murrayfield were believed to be most strongly opposed to their inclusion in this competition.
For those with the best interests of the sport and of the Magners League at heart, their involvement can only be a good thing.