Despite everything, there were positives to take from the campaign. Under new coach Jacques Brunel, for the first time, there was a noticeable attempt by the Italians to play more open and attacking rugby. There were more line-breaks and offloads and the backs were brought into use more than in previous campaigns. There were also promising signs from several young players making the step up. Alongside Campagnaro, 21, and Furno, 24, winger Leonardo Sarto, 22, also made a good impression, scoring two well-taken individual tries. Fly-half Tommaso Allan, 20, heir apparent to Luciano Orquera, had an indifferent championship, but showed glimpses of his talent on several occasions. These however are papering over the cracks of what is fast becoming a serious problem for Italy. The stalwarts of this team for so many years are not getting any younger. Furno is the only Italian forward to feature throughout the championship who is under 25 years of age.
Fellow prop Andrea Lo Cicero retired last year. Sergio Parisse, their captain and widely considered to be one of the best Number 8’s in world rugby, is into his 30’s. Mauro Bergamasco, capped 97 times, is 34. In addition, only seven of the 30 members of the squad play their club rugby outside of Italy. With Treviso and Zebre set to leave the Pro-12 at the end of this year in favour of an Italian league, it is questionable whether these players will have regular exposure to the level of rugby they need in order to be competitive on the international circuit.
The good news is that Italy’s attempts to play a more exciting brand of rugby appear to be coinciding with a period when several promising new talents are coming through in the back-line. With that in mind, it remains only to hope that the next few years will see the players of the bel paese developing their own brand of “bello rugby”. The road ahead for Italian rugby might be long, but at least the direction is clear.
Sahar Zivan
Martin Castrogiovanni is 32 and nearing the end of his career