IT
EN«Everyone’s right and no one’s right». That’s how Moreno Molla sums up Benetton’s season — and it’s not a quip: he discussed it at length with Mario from Pillole Ovali, one defending Treviso and the other attacking them. In the end, both on the same mark: five and a half.
The paradox he describes is all here: a side capable of playing the big matches like a big team, but which loses the ones it should win.
What grade does Benetton’s season deserve
For Molla, a five and a half: it depends which way you look at it. Some see the shortcomings, some see the mitigating factors, but the number everyone converges on is that one. A season neither to fail nor to pass.
The hardest eighth place in the world
The URC is the league that offers the most play-off places — eight teams out of sixteen, against France’s six out of fourteen and England’s four out of ten. But it’s also brutal. On paper, at the start of the season, the spots are almost already assigned: three Irish (Leinster, Munster and one of Ulster or Connacht), three South African (Bulls, Stormers, Sharks) and one Scottish (currently Glasgow). That leaves a couple of places that six teams scrap over — Edinburgh, the Ospreys, the big names left out. Five out of six, there, don’t make it.
«The problem isn’t Italy, it’s Benetton»
The classic alibi is “we’re Italy, we have internationals to manage, a pre-season that starts later”. But Molla plays it down: the talent is there — Ferrari, Ruzza, Lamaro and a string of Azzurri — and several quality starters now play abroad. In short: the issue is no longer the nation, it’s the club. What weighs, if anything, are the structural factors of the European calendar: the November tour that splits the season in half, internationals drained away, the cups, the Six Nations. By the time you finish, it’s all already gone by.
Big in the big games, fragile in the small ones
The strength is clear: «the important match, Benetton usually doesn’t blow it». The win at Castres against La Rochelle to reach the Challenge Cup quarter-finals is the proof: there Treviso play like a big team. The problem is what we call “routine business”: that 100% can’t be repeated every Sunday, and so come the defeats to the Dragons, at home to Glasgow, to Edinburgh, to Connacht. It’s the same theme as the national team — learning to win even when you’re not at your best.
«The important match, Benetton usually doesn’t blow it.»
Read also: why Italy v Australia in Udine is the finest win · Italy’s revival according to Molla
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