The Italrugby which is preparing to make its debut at the World Cup presents itself like this: “We wanted to give identity and credibility to the national team, and we will demonstrate it on the pitch”
Kieran Crowley is not hiding. The Italrugby coach deployed the “typical” formation for the match against Namibia – on paper the most affordable of the 4 – without turnover or rotations, and also in the conference he immediately showed that he had very clear ideas regarding this Cup of the World: “We will play the greatest rugby competition in existence, we don’t want to be just passengers, we want to be protagonists, have ambition, courage and in the end win. We have to give our all and be able to look in the mirror at the end of the tournament and tell ourselves that we gave everything we had.”
CREDIBILITY – There are many more expectations than usual for this Italy team, despite the prohibitive group with France and the All Blacks and only two places available for the quarter-finals. The Azzurri present themselves at the starting line with the awareness of being able to compete with everyone, as demonstrated by the victories obtained against Wales and Australia and by the many matches played point by point with the greats of world rugby: “We wanted to give an identity, a name and a credibility to this team. These guys have guts and ambition, and will show how hard they’ve worked these past few months, on and off the pitch. When you start winning matches you also start to believe in yourself more, and we are working hard on this aspect too, on the mental approach, on positivity. We wonder what our limits are and how we can overcome them”. For Kieran Crowley it will be the last adventure on the bench of the Azzurri. At the end of the World Cup he will be replaced by Gonzalo Quesada: “Did I feel more free? I have always been a free man (laughs, ed). All this didn’t change anything about the way I worked, I would have done everything exactly the same way, in any case” said the coach.
THE PUSH OF A NATION – Even at the 2019 World Cup, Italy made its debut against Namibia, when many of the young boys present today didn’t even think they could make it to the national team: “Where was I 4 years ago? We touch on a sore point – says captain Michele Lamaro – because in that period I was injured with my knee and hadn’t played for many months. I hadn’t even been able to play my cards: I watched that match from home and I knew many of the guys who were already playing in Treviso with me. I looked at them with admiration but also with the awareness that by working hard I could have gotten there too, and being able to be a protagonist with a group like that is truly a great satisfaction. Now we feel the support of an entire nation, it is something that certainly gives us an extra boost and we want to try to repay it on the pitch.” The Italian captain also spoke about his relationship with Sergio Parisse, an Italian legend who has been talked about a lot in recent months in view of a possible re-call: “In recent years we have spoken often, he has been at my side and I really appreciate him very much. . He is a legend in the sport, and hearing this support from him is important to me. I’m happy and proud of it.”
THE BEST EVER – Also present at the press conference was Monty Ioane, one of the most awaited men and author of a hat-trick in the last match against Japan. The blue winger immediately made things clear: “Are we the best Italy in the history of the World Cup? Yes, I’m 100% sure of that. We have built something important, and we can only improve with these young people who are giving so much to the growth process. They are crazy! They don’t feel the pressure”
September 7 – 2.43pm
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