Rugby has arrived as Prodi gives seal of approval

ITALY’S Prime Minister Romano Prodi has never been a great football fan, unlike his opposite number Silvio Berlusconi, who is both president and owner of AC Milan, as well as most of the country’s TV stations.

So it was with obvious glee that Mr Prodi welcomed the Italian rugby players to his grand offices in Rome’s Palazzo Chigi on Thursday, just as he welcomed the footballers on their return from their World Cup triumph last summer.

If political approval is a measure of popularity then Italian rugby has evidently arrived.

It may still be a minor sport as far as the papers and Mr Berlusconi’s TV channels are concerned – the big story this weekend is the Australian Grand Prix, and whether Ferrari can replace Michael Schumacher.

But with football dogged by one scandal after another, rugby is able to present itself as an exciting, and clean, alternative.

“Football needs to learn from rugby’s example,” Luca Pancalli, special commissioner of the Italian football federation, told a conference on Sport and Violence last week. “The tremendous festival atmosphere there is at every game, with fans of both sides mixing together; the sense of fair play there is on the pitch; the post-match celebrations – and a lot of other things besides.”

Reflecting the mood, Milan’s city council has erected a giant screen outside the cathedral so people can watch today’s game.

A similar screen is up in the Piazza del Popolo in Rome.

For Italy’s rugby community, based mainly in the smaller towns and cities of the north east, such as Calvisano, Treviso and Rovigo, these are rare times.

The sense of anticipation for today’s game has been huge, partly because Italy are genuine contenders for the first time, but also because Ireland are popular opponents, seen as the best team in the tournament, and a real test of whether Italy can live with the top sides.

For Mauro Bergamasco, suspended today but on the pitch in spirit, the main change has been in the players’ heads, a testimony to their coach Pierre Berbizier, who from the outset declared that his two aims were to get the team playing in an Italian way, rather than trying to copy France or New Zealand, and to achieve the mental resilience required to win close games.

Before Berbizier admitted: “the Six Nations experience was negative – we never showed ourselves equal to the situation.”

Now, he feels: “Italy exist as a team – we have this group.”

Deprived of Bergamasco as well as two experienced front row forwards, Martin Castrogiovanni and Andrea Lo Cicero, Italy have to rely today on the new generation such as Alessandro Zanni and the giant 21-year-old winger Matteo Pratichetti.

Seven years ago, Pratichetti was the lad who brought the ball to Diego Dominguez to kick the goals in Italy’s first-ever Six Nations match.

Born down the road near Ostia, Pratichetti is set to win his fourth cap, after being given the toughest possible debut against the All Blacks in 2004.

His second game was against England at Twickenham less than a month ago, when he came on as substitute and would have scored but for a forward pass.

Still surprised by the response to his performance that day – “I found 51 texts on my phone after the game” – he is realistic about today’s challenge.

“I still have everything to demonstrate,” he says. “My game needs to improve technically, and I have to get used to playing at the top level. But for me this is just the beginning.

“It’s lovely to see the effect that our efforts are having, and for me personally, being from Rome, seeing the Flaminio packed to overflowing is an emotional thing.”

Rome’s mayor, Walter Veltroni, has promised that funds will be available.

“Work will start soon and the Flaminio will remain the home of rugby,” he said on Thursday.

Italy’s players and fans have experienced enough false dawns to be cautious.

Despite the euphoria of their successes against Scotland and Wales fans and players also realise that both results might have been different had their opponents taken advantage of numerous penalties to kick points, rather than assume they could score tries. Ireland, they feel, are unlikely to make similar assumptions.

“We should beware of being carried away,” warns Ivan Malfatto of the Gazzettino, the paper that covers rugby’s north east heartland.

“It would be neglectful not to take advantage of the media manna that’s raining down on Italian rugby. But it would be foolish to pass off those two thrilling triumphs as a faithful reflection of a sport that’s in robust health. The success of the national team has to act as the engine to pull the game forward, and not as an excuse to maintain the status quo.”