Emotional Canale talks up a storm

IF Italy ran with the ball as much as they do with their fighting talk, we could be in for a very different game this Sunday rather than the arm wrestle they will try and force on Ireland.

If ever a team marches to the beat of its head coach, it is the Italians, who have been happy to pick up the tenor of Nick Mallett’s fighting talk about a front row better and stronger than Ireland’s and run with it.

So, having arrived in Dunedin ahead of the Pool C showdown this weekend under the roof of the Otago Stadium, centre Gonzalo Canale is happy to describe the impending contest as a “war” and Italy’s final, while forwards coach and former Azzurri hooker Carlo Orlandi talks of sending his front row out to “destroy” their opposite numbers.

It is all heady stuff but, then again, there is plenty of history between the Italian and Irish teams, from the three defeats inflicted upon the men in green between 1995 and 1997 to Ronan O’Gara’s late winning drop goal to lift the siege of Rome in the Six Nations last February.

“We know the Irish very well and how strong they are,” Canale said. “They showed it even when they beat Australia. We’re expecting a lot of pace from them, a physical challenge, a war.”

Italy also have some World Cup baggage all of their own, with 17 members of the current squad scarred by the nature of their defeat at Scottish hands in their final pool game of the 2007 tournament in France.

“Our group has changed a lot over the last four years,” the Clermont centre argued. “It’s a stronger squad, much more solid. Four years ago we missed a great chance against Scotland, a historical chance. So Sunday is our final.”

Orlandi is also keen to weigh down the weekend’s clash against Ireland with historical significance.

” I think if we win on Sunday it’s a big step for all Italian rugby men,” he said.

Perhaps the biggest ever? “Yes, of course,” he replied. “We need to write a new page of history.”

Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile