Rugby, Italy-Uruguay, Lamaro: “Italy, the team came out in crucial moments”

Italy proved to be “strong in the moments that matter”, without letting themselves be influenced by the disadvantage and a very poorly played first half. This is how captain Michele Lamaro framed the 38-17 with which the Azzurri defeated Uruguay in the second match in Pool A at the Rugby World Cup in France. “It was a tough match, the Uruguayans must be proud of the performance,” said Lamaro as he received the man of the match award. “They put us under enormous pressure, but it is precisely in those crucial moments, when it counts, that you see how strong a team we are: in the second half we showed it and we only thought about sweeping away everything in front of us.”

“Don’t panic”

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Of course, very few expected to see an Italy in such a state of suffering: “But the level of the tier 2 teams – underlines the blue captain – is growing significantly and everyone comes to the World Cup to win. It is difficult to close the match in the first 40 minutes But if you keep the pressure high, like we did, the difference can emerge in the second half.” It was pointed out to Lamaro how his leadership is noticeable despite his young age: “I am still young and as captain I can only see how important the support of my teammates is, without which I couldn’t do anything. Today I’m really proud of the boys and these will remain indelible memories in the memory of all of us. We are a great group, a family.” Federico Ruzza instead revealed what happened in the Italian locker room at the end of the first half, which ended 7-17 down: “There was no panic at half-time, we knew what would be needed in the second half, it’s a testimony to the maturity of the group” .

Indiscipline

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As usual, it is up to coach Kieran Crowley to highlight what didn’t work: “In the first half, our indiscipline allowed the Uruguayans to put us in difficulty. At half-time we told ourselves to play in a more direct way and it came out an excellent second half, executing exactly what we had prepared. The key was to think about the work to be done, not about the bad first half. We set a good pace, improved our discipline. Uruguay put us under pressure in the first half, they were exceptional on match points: they deserve to face other tier 1s more often to continue growing.”