Coach Quesada puffs out his chest: “Italrugby, it’s not a miracle, but an excellent job”

The first sensation? “Regret”. The analysis? “It’s not a miracle, but it’s the result of the team’s great work.” It is almost more difficult to explain than a heavy defeat, the 13-13 with which Italy stopped France in Lille on the third day of the Six Nations. A comeback draw, the result of the great defense in the first half, then the (finally!) mental performance in the second half, when the Azzurri managed to take control of the situation by taking advantage of the extra man, resulting in the red card Jonathan Danty.

And so the Italian coach Gonzalo Quesada, in his third match in charge, achieved a result that no predecessor had ever achieved in the history of the Six Nations: stopping France at home. “Finishing the first half with a narrow margin was not a miracle, but the consequence of the team’s work, which defended with courage, discipline and with the awareness of being able to stay in the game,” explains Quesada. “Unfortunately we lacked patience in possessions and made mistakes that prevented us from counterattacking. Then there was another match and it didn’t just depend on the extra man. At half-time I reminded the team of what we had prepared and the need to move the ball, spread out their defense and propose the advancing sequences that we are capable of doing. Compared to England and Ireland, today I saw Italy as better, because we are increasingly putting on the pitch what we prepare in training.” Ange Capuozzo’s try, which, with Paolo Garbisi’s conversion, was worth the equalizer 11 minutes from the end, also marks a distinction in Quesada’s analysis: “If it had been the last action of the match, we would have presented ourselves with champagne to celebrate….”. The post on Garbisi’s set piece after time expired which denied the victory, however, is not decisive in the coach’s judgement: “It’s true, it could have been the first victory in France, but a post doesn’t change my analysis, also dictated by the awareness of the difficulty in coming to get a draw here, at the home of a very strong team that had the obligation to win. And I know them well, I know how much they perform when they are under pressure. This draw shouldn’t be a point of arrival for us: I’m happy not for the result, but for what the boys put on the pitch.”

regret

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Instead, captain Michele Lamaro’s sentiment is blunt: “The first feeling is one of regret, I have no doubts.” But then there is also the satisfaction of having demonstrated something, especially thinking about the defeat six months ago at the World Cup against France: “We had something to prove, we had to react and demonstrate that we are a team that can compete at this level and that can also earn the chance to win”, says the blue captain. “Are we talking about details that make the difference? Well, for us today a detail is represented by the desire not to be satisfied with closing the first half 0-10 and wanting to go and play that last free kick, which then gave rise to the action that brought the red card and our free kick. In other times we would not have risked it. That moment gave us confidence.” Confidence which then becomes fundamental when he invents a counterattack from his own 22 from which the action of Capuozzo’s goal arises. “Gonzalo asks us to be more unpredictable, to respect our DNA and if there is a situation to exploit, to try”. In short, regret yes, but a nice injection of confidence: “Because a post on the last kick doesn’t change the substance of the performance.”