Italian Rugby Has a Flat Battery and Treviso Holds the Jumper Cables
On Friday Treviso travel to Cardiff looking to ignite their season and provide Italian rugby with a timely shot in the arm, writes Martyn Thomas.
Since joining the Pro12 in 2010, Treviso has not finished bottom of the table – fellow Italian clubs Aironi and Zebre have helped make sure of that.
This season, however, finishing last in the 12-team Celtic league is a distinct possibility.
Treviso have won just two games all season, and lost both of their back-to-back derbies against Zebre at the turn of the year – as many defeats as they had tasted in eight previous Pro12 meetings.
And they were damaging results. Treviso have competed at the top table of European club rugby – be it the Heineken Cup or European Champions Cup – for the past 12 consecutive season, and have missed out only twice since the format’s creation in 1995.
The Italian federation is guaranteed one participant in the Champions Cup, meaning whoever finishes highest of Treviso and Zebre will take their place alongside Toulon, Saracens et al.
Thus making their Christmas fixtures a de facto European play-off.
Fortunately for Treviso, their form has picked up since January. February began with a win over the Cardiff Blues at home – new coach Marius Goosen’s first – as Treviso won two of their three matches, and picked up a losing bonus point in the other.
Their only assignment in a March scheduled stunted by the Six Nations, meanwhile, was a trip to west Wales to face the Scarlets. Treviso led 15-14 with 21 minutes to go but did so for only eight more, as a penalty and converted try helped the hosts secure a 24-15 and robbed Goosen’s men of even a bonus point. Progress nonetheless.
Treviso’s trip to the Welsh capital, to face a Blues team lying ninth and with little chance of making the top six, therefore represents an inviting opportunity to bite into the three-point advantage Zebre hold over them in 11th.
The game will also provide several Treviso players with an immediate shot at redemption. The Blues’ Arms Park home is unique in that it is attached to the Millennium Stadium, the setting of Wales’ nine-try defeat of Italy just six days previously.
The national stadium will loom imposingly over proceedings for those involved as the Azzurri completed a bruising campaign with a second capitulation in as many weeks. Davide Giazzon, Alberto Luchesse, Luke McLean, Francesco Minto, Andrea Pratichetti, Braam Steyn, Alessandro Zanni and Matteo Zanusso might hope to make their club returns elsewhere.
Argentineans must watch Italy’s plight and rejoice that they were never admitted to the Six Nations. But how has it come to this for the Azzurri?
After all, it was just three years ago that the national team and Treviso were enjoying what were hoped were breakthrough seasons.
Italy beat both France and Ireland in the 2013 Six Nations as they equalled their best finish of fourth. Treviso, meanwhile, finished seventh following a season that included wins over Munster and fourth-placed Scarlets, as well as an away point against eventual runners-up, Ulster.
It looked briefly as though Italian rugby was coming of age, but neither Italy nor Treviso have been able to kick on. The Azzurri have collected two Wooden Spoons in the intervening three years, while Italian rugby’s premier club are on course for a third successive bottom-two finish.
The reasons Treviso have stagnated are manifold, but have their basis in one commodity – money.
Twenty-two first-team squad members have departed the club since they signed off the 2012-13 season with a 41-17 win over the Scarlets in Llanelli. Three players have retired, while as many have headed west to play for Zebre in Parma, but the bulk of the rest have gone to richer clubs in England, Scotland and Wales.
Indeed, Leicester Tigers helped themselves to four stars – Leonardo Ghiraldini, Michele Rizzo, Robert Barbieri and Christian Loamanu – in the summer of 2014.
Barbieri has since returned, as has McLean, who joined Sale Sharks for the 2014-15 campaign, but the standard of recruits has not been good enough, and their number has been too large.
Former head coach Umberto Casellato brought in 24 players during the 2014 off-season. At the time the running repairs looked necessary given 13 first-team members had left or were leaving, but the result was a second successive straight 11th-placed finish.
Castellato would lose his job following the home defeat to Zebre two months ago. The coach had not been helped by uncertainty above him, though.
The Italian federation have twice threatened to pull their clubs out of the Pro12, initially in February 2014 because of administrative indecision, and subsequently due to an unpaid bill of €1.5 million that was owed by Treviso and Zebre to the rest of the league.
On each occasion a solution was found, but with London Scottish and London Welsh doing little to hide their interest in joining the Celtic party, it means it’s not only the national team who are having their place among the elite questioned.
Victory over the Blues on Friday might do little to dampen that talk but it would restore a measure of pride in the Italian game when it needs it the most. And help Treviso preserve their own relatively proud record in the process.
Comments on RugbyPass
I reckon it may be Jordan at 10 and Nohamba at 9, both players have played together alot and both have been on the Radar for a long time. After Pollard got injured in 2022 with Elton sidelined on a path of self destruction Erasmus and Nienaber indicated that the other options in the country at the time were thin but that Jordan and Manie were the 2 they were looking at. In the end Frans steyn played flyhalf, Willemse slotted in there on the end of year with Libbok as back up. Jordan was right there in the thinking back then so expect him to take the Jersey either as the starter.
1 Go to commentsHaha did he always say it in a sarcastic teacher sort of manor or was it the petulant English snob sort of wail?
43 Go to commentsWell said Mils. It is a big boost at last having Fergus Burke back at 10 for the Crusaders. Had a great season last year as the article says. Mils is also right about captain Codie Taylor’s performance in his return to the Crusaders last week. He was all class.
4 Go to commentsLet’s make them both Capt. I think we'd get the best of both of them and it would help alleviate some of the pressures of the role. They'd have to confer over on field decisions which should lead to “ learnings “ for both. They are our two best consistent performers.
16 Go to commentsOur best player by far..but not a good Captain..poor tactician cost the AB'S and Canes games by not taking the easy points and going for tries when the lineouts were a shambles..can he read a game? And his throat slitting gesture should disqualify him from the AB Captaincy..it is not the appropriate behaviour of an AB Captain.
16 Go to commentsForget what was said or how many players said it. TONY BROWN IS THE NEW ATTACK COACH. That’s the only story worth freaking out over. The springboks are going to grow their game an awful lot over the next cycle and it’s not just the 19 disgustingly arrogant Irish players who refused to shake Ebens hand and said “see you in the final if you can cheat your way past France” who will find that out first hand.
123 Go to commentsOn one hand I think it's a bit ridiculous that this gar into the season and with only 2 wins the Crusaders may make the finals. On the other hand if it was only top 4 or 5, then that last several weeks may be mainly dead rubbers. Nope, 8th place after round robin shouldn't be able to lift the trophy.
4 Go to commentsI do think the media in NZ treated him badly. Sam is a legend. He is humble, a great rugby mind and leader. What happened in the final could happen to anyone. The margins is so fine these days. I lay blame at the feet of the coaching staff and NZ rugby. The stats tell’s all. The AB’s was the worst disciplined side in the WC with more red and yellow cards than anyone else. Problem is NZ rugby is not training their players to play safer. And thats the danger a fast game brings. More yellow and red cards. But Sam Cane in my eye was and still is a great ambassador for the game, that just had a stroke of bad luck.
6 Go to commentsI hope Jim and co. Add this to their list of icebreaker questions they can ask all their guests going forward. So we can eventually hear what everyone thinks about this subject. “What do you think Ireland meant…”
123 Go to commentsHe’s a dominant personality. That might be both a good and bad thing in team dynamics. Certainly it ruined Smith’s first crack at 10 with Owen at 12. BTW, Bristol flatter to deceive. When things really matter, they tend to deliver less rather than more. Farrell would have been good for them
43 Go to commentsGot a lot of over the top abuse from Crusader fans, in particular, who thought every 7 they had was miles better. Now we will see if anyone is better? Laid his body on the line every game so finishing early makes sense. A lot of life left after rugby.
6 Go to commentsA poor decision to appoint Carley as not only is Pearce a better referee but also importantly speaks French.
2 Go to commentsHe is 100 % on the mark. Malicious arrogance with a lack of respect for the other teams mostly the south. they must learn from True rugby nations like the Boks and Kiwis
123 Go to commentsThis Outiniqua boy has played sublime rugby and deserves a spot in BI LIONS team. Well played son
4 Go to commentsI don’t like to see players miss big matches but this ban looks to be tailored to allow him to compete in the final. In principle a suspension for a very dangerous tackle in a semi should warrant missing the relevant final. Done now. One the flip side having both teams with very strong squads/teams available for the final will add to the occassion hopefully.
1 Go to commentsTalent to burn and a huge engine..hope he gets a shot at higher honours
2 Go to commentsIf anything like his dad he has a bright future, Soane was the best ball carrying props ive ever seen using a combination of pace power and footwork.
1 Go to commentsThose who saw Sharks vs Clermont and Ox N'Che vs Rabah Slimani should have a good idea of the best scrumagers… May be not the best props…
2 Go to commentsIt's been an unusual era of unpopular, highly competitive, domineering, fairly big fly halves in the home nations with Farrell, Sexton and Biggar. Russell is different in personality and player I think. I'd rank Sexton first of the three because he is just as good a game controller but also has a great passing game. And his competitiveness never seems to cause problems with refs.
43 Go to commentsThank goodness he wasn't born in Scotland, he'd have been a great candidate for the Scottish Barbarians. I wouldn't put it past them to push for a “where the player was conceived” rule 😂
2 Go to comments