Rugby coach Kieran Crowley will leave Italy after the World Cup

Whatever happens, an era will come to an end: Kieran Crowley will leave the Italrugby bench at the end of the 2023 World Cup. The New Zealand coach, who has been in Italy for 7 years, has been at the helm of the Azzurri for two. First on the Benetton bench, with whom he won a historic qualification for the Pro 14 playoffs in 2019 and above all the first international trophy in green-and-white history – the 2020 Rainbow Cup – then at the helm of the national team, with which he beat Wales and Australia: first blue success at home to the Welsh and first absolute success against the Wallabies. Your Italy is well placed on the pitch, it knows how to give battle but it also knows how to move the ball, and even the British press has been forced in the last 12 months to put aside its usual reluctance towards the blue presence in the Six Nations and to admit that this team has all the credentials to sit at the big table.

THE BLUE ADVENTURE Crowley started from scratch, took over an immature national team, full of young people and in full generational turnover, and within 2 years he made it a team worthy of the international scene. And above all, albeit on and off, the results have finally arrived: the first turning point is 19 March 2022, Italy conquers Cardiff for the first time in its history thanks to the amazing play of Ange Capuozzo and kicks from Garbisi and Padovani, but above all thanks to a game organization that has rarely been seen so precise and orderly.

NEVER THIS HIGH However, the real change of course comes in November, after a disastrous summer tour in which Italy struggles in Portugal (scoring the winning try with time running out) and then loses in Georgia, giving way more mentally than physically and technically . Crowley starts from that defeat and builds a game that adapts perfectly to the characteristics of this team: his Italy moves the ball from one side of the field to the other in search of spaces suitable for splinters such as Capuozzo, Menoncello and Ioane, and in in this way he conquers the first historic victory against Australia. Not before having walked on Samoa, not exactly a small team, trimming them 49 points without apparent difficulty. Italy is rediscovering rugby, with stadiums filling up again after years of difficulty, while abroad, interest in these youngsters is becoming more and more evident, and not just in words. Fischetti, Morisi, Riccioni, and even before them Garbisi, Allan and Mori, all play in England and France, as has not happened since the days of Lo Cicero, Masi, Parisse and Castrogiovanni.

COLD? NOT PROPER Never a word out of place, never an angry gesture, just a slight smile after the decisive try against Wales, and the ability to make even unpopular decisions without letting yourself be scratched by external pressure, as demonstrated by the recent choice to leave out the Sergio Parisse World Championship. And yet, behind Kieran Crowley’s apparent coldness hide the emotions of someone who gave everything for Italian rugby for 7 years. And in the last few months he has let himself go. This is demonstrated by the – finally free – exultation after Capuozzo’s try against Australia, or the outburst against the referee Damon Murphy in the press conference after the controversial defeat against Wales in March. It will not be from this World Cup that the balance sheet of the Crowley era will be drawn. To pass the round, one should beat one of France – hosts – and the All Blacks: if the Azzurri were to do the feat it would be the icing on the cake of a great cycle, otherwise it will be right to thank the New Zealand coach for what he has done in recent years and then focus already on the Six Nations 2024, the real key event of Italrugby. The name of Crowley’s successor is not yet known: the main candidate is the Argentine Gonzalo Quesada, who between 2013 and 2017 won a French championship and a Challenge Cup with the Stade Français in Paris, where he returned in 2020 in a very difficult period in the club’s history and brought it back to the top of transalpine rugby, winning 4th place and the playoffs in the last championship.