Dance of the desperates
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:57
Italy and the Pacific Islanders will both be desperate for victory when the teams clash in Reggio Emilia on Saturday.
Both have started their November Test series with two defeats from two and will be looking to finish off on a high.
Italy for their part were impressive for most of their 20-30 defeat to Australia and even had a chance to go ahead 10 minutes from time, before conceding a late try.
But they put in a largely abject performance in failing to put any real pressure on Argentina in a 14-22 defeat a week later, despite matching the much-heralded Pumas pack.
And Italy's captain Sergio Parisse, one of five players on the short list for the world player of the year award, believes his team's halfbacks need to improve if they are to stand any chance of beating the Islanders.
The problem for Italy is that is where they have the least experience and will field Pietro Travagli at No.9 and Andrea
Marcato at No.10 on
Saturday.
Both players play in the Italian league rather than the much stronger leagues in France and Britain and hence don't have the same big game experience as players such as Parisse, Marco Bortolami or the Bergamasco brothers.
"The two days following the match against Argentina were very difficult for the players, we were very down," said Stade Francais No.8 Parisse.
"In rugby at this level the two halfbacks cannot allow themselves to mess up the match.
"That happened [against Argentina] but I'm sure they know how to bounce back on Saturday.
"We have to be organised against them given that they are tactically disorganised but have players that can hurt you."
While Italy have run their opponents relatively close, the Islanders have been well beaten by both England and France, though all the while remaining entertaining.
They went down 39-13 to England before losing 42-17 against France, although they played the majority of that match a man down.
The Islanders' forwards coach Peter Fatialofa is upbeat about their chances in Italy.
"We have played some great rugby but we have not been finishing it off. We had our chances but didn't take them," he said.
"There is absolutely no reason we cannot beat Italy on Saturday.
"However, this is test match rugby and it will be a stern Test, all the more so as Italy have also lost their two games this series."
AFP
