Italians back to basics as Mallett plays it safe

LAST WEEK Nick Mallett took the biggest gamble of his international rugby coaching career in the Six Nations opener at Twickenham — and lost.

Choosing open side flank forward Mauro Bergamasco as a specialist scrum-half turned out to be an unmitigated disaster and it played a huge role in Italy’s demise.

Mallett admits he knew he had made the blunder inside 20 minutes, but by the time he decided to call Bergamasco ashore at half time, Italy had leaked 22 points and the game was over as a contest.

For tomorrow it’s back to basics at number nine with Paul Griffen although Bergamasco is retained — at number seven.

In general, Mallett anticipates that it could take a decade and a lot of structural changes to the domestic game for the Italians to become a regular force on the international stage.

“The club structure must be repaired; there must be space in the clubs for young talented Italians, the bulk of whom have to go abroad to France or England to gain experience. The clubs have created a situation that is facilitating a pension scheme for ex-Super 14 players who cannot make French or English club contracts, guys who are coming to the end of their careers.”

The problem faced by Italy, he suggests, is that when the country was accepted into the Six Nations, the team had an impressive side that had beaten France and Ireland in friendlies to establish credentials.

“They were accepted without carrying out any proper examination of the domestic structure to assess whether an international team of quality could be sustained into the future.

“At the moment what happens is that an under 20 player leaves the academy and can’t even get a place in a club side because that’s being held by a 32-year-old ex-Springbok or Kiwi, and that’s not acceptable, it’s certainly not good for the well being of the game in Italy.”

For now, Mallett accepts that the only thing he can do is try to keep Italy competitive, but he concedes it will be as difficult as ever.

“As I found out, this competition is not really the place for experiments.

“Before the change of laws, Italy placed huge emphasis in the set pieces, used the rolling maul a lot and generally had intelligent kicking half backs who could control a game.

“A weapon (the maul) has been taken away from us and the current laws require the half backs to vary the game more and use different options to try to break down the opposition.”

Mallett is somewhat envious of the Irish, saying: “I think Irish rugby is in a very sound state, you just have to look at how Munster and Leinster, who supply the bulk of the team, have performed in Europe. Add in that victory over France and I reckon they’ll be fairly happy coming to Rome. Declan (Kidney) has enjoyed a fantastic record with Munster that is recognised throughout the rugby world, and I think their autumn displays were more impressive than some gave them credit for.”

Mallett pointed to Ireland’s recent success in winning three Triple Crowns. “The Irish came agonisingly close to winning the Grand Slam two years ago and remain a very formidable side as they showed last week.

“They have a huge experienced pack, good decision-makers and excellent finishers. I place a lot of emphasis on the importance of having a quality fly-half and [Ronan] O’Gara is a fantastic player.”

“There is a lot of talk about England’s Cipriani being the coming force, and maybe that will be the case. He’s potentially world class, but you’ve got to prove yourself at international level to earn that title and O’Gara has done it in heaps over several seasons. He is composed, he controls his backs; he’s a great goal kicker, a good drop-goal kicker, a fantastic kicker out of hand and very intelligent on top of that.

“I don’t like comparing individuals but he is as important to Ireland as Dan Carter is to the All Blacks. When he doesn’t play, when Carter doesn’t play, neither of their teams are as potent, that’s for sure.”

Mallett will hope that tomorrow is one of the days when O’Gara doesn’t function, but even without the maul, Italy quietly assume they can cause Ireland problems in the scrum, making it more imperative than ever for Marcus Horan and John Hayes to be at their best.

But Mallett accepts that might be the only grey area for Ireland — that a pack led by Paul O’Connell and packed with wily warriors will surely not capitulate to any serious extent.

Neither does the South African expect Ireland to kick away the same amount of possession they did in Dublin last week. Mallett is hoping against hope for a bit of a miracle, and he fired a warning shot: “One thing is sure, my guys don’t throw in the towel easily; if they’re within five or six points at the 70-minute mark, it could be very interesting indeed.”

There’s no need to remind Kidney and his battle-hardened troops of that. They have been too long on the road and through too much to underestimate anyone, so take Ireland to win albeit with some difficulty along the way.