Today marks three days until the start of the 2018 Six Nations! Here's the fourth edition of my Six Nations Preview Series running up to the start of the tournament.
This Edition - ITALY!
Hope you enjoy the read!
Last season's 6th placed finishers, Italy have been boosted with some hope and belief of a better Azzurri performance coming into this year's tournament, inspired by previous Harlequins head coach Conor O'Shea. Italy have yet to make a solid mark in the Six Nations and are always known for the tries that they concede, and not the tries they score (although they come in dribs and drabs).
Last year's Six Nations efforts came to nothing, losing every single match of their campaign - but it definitely didn't tell the whole story. Italy pinned Wales back and held them at 12-7 for over 60 minutes before Wales eventually opened the real deadlock and won 33-7. Italy also produced a stunning and bamboozling display at Twickenham against England, leading to James Haskell, entertainingly, asking the ref to be coached on the rules with Italy choosing not to compete at the breakdown and having no offside line to take into account. They held England 17-15 for exactly 61 minutes before a spirited Jonathon Joseph performance eventually lead to a 36-15 victory.
Italy had a dire Autumn International Series, struggling to score any tries at all and conceding at free will against Argentina and South Africa. Not something they'll want to see on their record coming into a Six Nations with almost every team full of promise that their nation will be the victors.
The key strength I see in Italy is Sergio Parisse. Put Parisse in any side and you can transform them from a bunch of individuals into a solid unit, and that's exactly what he does to the Italy side, bringing leadership qualities that are second-to-none. There are also a handful of young prospects that could feature prominently in this year's Italian campaign; Jake Polledri (of Gloucester) is probably my pick to look out for this tournament, and I've already claimed that he'll be the next 'Sergio Parisse' esque player in the Italy side. Tommaso Castello, an outrageously quick centre, and Carlo Canna, Zebre's young fly-half, will give the Italy back-line a sense of danger, and will hopefully give them a springboard to attack off of.
The biggest weakness has to be current form. Italy did not play well in the Autumn Internationals, and domestically the Italian sides don't tend to compete much in the Pro 14. Zebre and Treviso haven't looked like much threats in the European Competition and having been absolutely slaughtered in most games. Any other result than a wooden spoon would probably be viewed as an achievement by most of the Six Nations following. If a good Italy, spurred on by Conor O'Shea, turn up on the day then we could see them challenging France, Wales and Scotland, but that's very, very unlikely.
Italy have just the two home games against England and Scotland. Home advantage probably won't count for much in either game, and they'll get beat pretty convincingly by both - although England might take a while to kickstart their campaign, so they could give them a good run for their money before losing. Italy have away games against Wales and France, who I'd say would be the most likely games to grab the win against, so I don't think much of Italy's chances (and also Ireland). They'll slot in 6th, grab the wooden spoon, and raise further debate as to whether Georgia should be given a chance to earn their spot in the Six Nations 'A'.
Feel free to give me your thoughts below!