Kirwan’s loyalties are not divided

Italy’s coach John Kirwan has insisted his illustrious All Blacks career will count for little on Saturday when the Azzurri open their World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Melbourne.

But memories of that opening match in the inaugural World Cup, when Kirwan’s remarkable 70metre run and score kick-started New Zealand’s championship campaign, have been pushed firmly to the back of his mind.

“For me it’s a great honour to be playing New Zealand and a great way for us to start the World Cup,” he said.

“I don’t really think too much about my past as a player, I concentrate on what I am doing at the moment as a coach.

“I’ve put the playing behind me. For me it’s another challenge, it’s as if I haven’t played.

“I am putting new challenges in front of me all the time. You coach because you want to see players improve. For me it’s really all about the players, it’s for them to enjoy.”

On Saturday, Kirwan’s only concern will be for Italy to give their all inside Melbourne’s Telstra Dome.

The Azzurri, who face the daunting task of playing Tonga just three days after taking on the All Blacks, have been forced to split their first-choice players over two matches because of the insufficient recovery time.

Squad captain Alessandro Troncon will start from the bench, leaving the side to be skippered on Saturday by veteran lock Carlo Checchinato, who will be featuring in his fourth World Cup.

Victory may be unlikely against a virtually full-strength All Blacks side, but Kirwan wants to ensure Italy’s own World Cup campaign gets the positive start such a fiercely-competitive pool demands.

Next on the agenda is Tonga, then Canada and Wales - and realistically, only one of them can qualify for the quarter-finals.

“It’s really important for the side that we have a good performance on Saturday. It’s an important day for us from a spirit point of view,” he said.

“We have to get out there and give it our best shot, have the best time and really go hard for 80 minutes.

“We can’t really worry too much about the All Blacks, we have to walk off the field with our heads held high having given it everything.”

New Zealand have not played a Test since claiming the Bledisloe Cup with victory over Australia in August, but Kirwan is acutely aware of what threats the All Blacks, with the likes of Doug Howlett and Joe Rokocoko in their side, will pose.

After all, the Italians are a side, by his own admission, which is “reckless” by nature.

“The All Blacks want to get the tournament off to a good start,” he said.

“They haven’t played for six weeks so will be trying to put the combinations together. They will play a wide, expansive game and use their strengths out wide.

“We have been training to contain a few of their strengths. If you give someone like Joe space he’s going to take it, so ideally we’ll be trying not to give him too much space.”

Rokocoko only made his Test debut against England in June and, surprisingly given his record since, was kept try-less.

The 20-year-old, a superstar-in-the-making, will enter the Pool D having scored 11 tries in seven Tests and will be hungry for more.

But All Blacks vice-captain Tana Umaga will warn his team-mates ahead of the game that Italy ought not to be written off - even though New Zealand cruised to victory in their last meeting.

“We have this contest on the weekend. It’s going to be a tough game. It’s quite disrespectful to call them minnows,” said Umaga.

“I don’t think they see themselves as minnows. They are part of the Six Nations, they have a great coach and some great players.

“They are very passionate about rugby. They love their rugby and I am sure that is what they’ll bring.

“They will look to knock us off and we’ll have to be on our A-game to repel them.”

All Blacks coach John Mitchell has selected his strongest available side to do just that.

The only changes from that Bledisloe Cup victory are injury enforced, with lock Ali Williams (fractured foot) and inside-centre Aaron Mauger (groin) replaced by Brad Thorn and Daniel Carter respectively.

New Zealand: M Muliaina; D Howlett, T Umaga, D Carter, K Rokocoko; C Spencer, J Marshall; D Hewett, K Mealamu, G Somerville, B Thorn, C Jack, R Thorne (captain), R McCaw, J Collins.

Replacements: M Hammett, K Meeuws, R So’oialo, M Holah, S Devine, M Nonu, L MacDonald.

Italy: G Peens; M Bergamasco, A Masi, M Barbibi, N Mazzucato; F Mazzariol, M Mazzantini; S Perugini, C Festuccia, R Martinez, C Checchinato (captain), C Bezzi, S Palmer, M Bergamasco, M Phillips.

Replacements: F Ongaro, M Castrogiovanni, S Parisse, A Benatti, A Troncon, R Wakarua-Noema, G Canale.