In what could be his last pre-match conference as Italy manager, Nick Mallett was emotional, writes GERRY THORNLEY
HERE’S AN irony: South African Nick Mallett is more Latin in temperament than his French predecessor Pierre Berbizier, a comparatively cold fish.
Close to tears at, potentially his 42nd, lengthy and last pre-match press conference yesterday, Mallett completed a final interview for Italian television by declaring, “these are not my rugby players, this is my family.”
It was unusual to see the super smooth, two-time Bouclier du Brennus winner with Stade Français and Tri-Nations champion and World Cup semi-finalist with the Springboks become so emotional. The prospect of his tenure with Italia ending clearly hurts. He had been his own translator for much of the press conference, but before the translation of a tribute to him by team manager Luigi Troiani, Mallett slapped him on the thigh by way of thank you.
Four years ago, Berbizier brought a less than unified Azzurri squad to within a kick of the quarter-finals. Under Mallett, this Azzurri team draws on the same core group but is evidently more tight-knit, if less adventurous, though only time will tell if the impending arrival of Jacques Brunel will restore some of that former French-influenced flair.
Of course, Mallett ain’t done yet if he has anything to do with it. “I don’t have to even talk to the players about this game. Our whole objective has been to get to this point where we’ve given ourselves a chance of playing Ireland and if we play really well – and we have to play really well because they’re an excellent team – but if we play really well we give ourselves a chance of getting into the quarter-finals and that was the objective at the start, and it was the objective of the players. I reckon from a couple of years ago we’ve been thinking about the possibility of getting into a quarter-final. I mean, these five days – motivation is the last thing they need.”
Not did he in any way regret his post-match comments last Thursday about Italy’s frontrow being better than Ireland’s. “It’s an area of our game where we’ve been very good against Australia, against New Zealand, against South Africa, against Ireland, against Wales – there isn’t a single team that we haven’t been good in the scrum against so it’s a realistic comment, not an arrogant comment.
“They (Ireland) certainly know that we’ve got a good scrum and they’ve certainly improved their scrimmage. One must remember they got three scrum penalties against Australia but they played against an Australia side without Stephen Moore and in my not so humble opinion, I think that Stephen Moore is much, much more important to Australia than any other player on the field because without him their pack isn’t half as effective.
“But as the Irish quite rightly said: it’s only one area of the game. They’ve got a good lineout; they’ve got excellent ball runners; they’ve got great backs and we like to think we’ve improved that aspect of our game. We’re not just a one trick pony; we’re not just a scrummaging side. You know it’s the right moment to say we’ve actually scored more tries than Ireland against the same opposition. We scored 13 tries – they only scored 12 . . . we’ve conceded more but we’ve certainly got a reasonable attacking side at the moment as well.”
By the same token, of course, defeat for Ireland could draw down the curtain on the World Cup ambitions of Brian O’Driscoll and the remaining core of Ireland’s golden generation. And O’Driscoll and the vast majority of this team are steeped in one-off games, be it last round Heineken Cup pool matches or knockout ties.
“You definitely draw on your experience of playing big games in big competitions,” O’Driscoll said yesterday. “You try and regurgitate some of those thoughts that worked for you, not so much before a game but during a game. Because every game throws up something different. You can’t plan for everything.”
Declan Kidney too remained in bring-it-on mode. “Well, Six Nations-wise, the fellas always say it’s the most physical match of the whole year so I don’t see this being any different. There’ll be a lot of emotion. It’s a final for both of us. The last match was obviously very close and they’ve come with a big belief from that. Obviously with Nick’s situation, he’s a great record of getting teams to play well for him.”
“They’ve made no secret of the fact that they’ve targeted this match from early on. So it’s a brilliant situation for us to be in, too. We know we go into the match with it being in our own hands and that’s what you always wanted it to be – you’re not depending on anybody else. If we’re good enough, we’ll go through. If we’re not, we won’t be. You can’t ask for any better than that at this stage of the competition.”
“I don’t have to even talk to the players about this game. Our whole objective has been to get to this point where we’ve given ourselves a chance of playing Ireland and a chance of getting to the quarter-finals
