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If there is one unit Wayne Pivac’s Benetton can build their season on as the URC gets under way, it’s the pack. I really liked it against the Black Lion, and going through the squad name by name I’m convinced of one thing: this year Treviso have to anchor their game in the forwards. More than ever.
Props: nine players, all of them competitive
Losing Tomás Gallo, the Pumas loosehead now at Lyon, hurts. But on the loosehead side there are very important players, starting with Mirco Spagnolo. Until last season it was a toss-up between him and Gallo for the big games; now Spagnolo is Benetton’s starter, with all the responsibility that comes with it, and he’s still very young for a prop. Behind him are a reborn Ivan Nemer, new arrivals Gonzalo Hughes and Matías Medrano, the youngest of the group, and Destiny Aminu.
On the tighthead side the reference point is Simone Ferrari, Spagnolo’s partner in crime, who looks to be right in his prime: we saw it at the Six Nations too. With him are Marcos Gallorini, who impressed me in his twenty minutes against the Black Lion, Giosuè Zilocchi and Tiziano Pasquali. Our centurion is still at a perfectly competitive age for a prop: he could even dust off something at the set scrum, and at worst he’ll be the glue of the unit, with a dressing-room influence everyone recognises.
Nine props, all nine competitive in a big game. When things get tough, whoever you pick, you can sleep easy.
Hookers: dynamic, with a question mark on the throw
Another strong unit: Siua Maile, whom we’ve even seen play at flanker, Bautista Bernasconi and Nicholas Gasperini, plus young Valerio Pelli, fresh from the U20s, as fourth choice. A position that had to be rebuilt from scratch a couple of years ago, when Lucchesi and Nicotera left.
There are still some questions, for example over Maile’s throwing. But these are three very dynamic hookers who in my view suit Pivac’s game, and I’ve seen a lot of attention on the lineout: I believe, and hope, the throwing will be worked on hard too.
Locks: Walker-Leawere and the youngsters to watch
The new face is Isaia Walker-Leawere, signed from the Hurricanes and stopped straight away by a muscle problem. Otherwise it’s last year’s unit: Federico Ruzza, Niccolò Cannone, Riccardo Favretto, who as ever can play lock or back row, and Jadin Kingi, perhaps more back row than lock.
Keep an eye on the youngsters, though. Above all Piero Gritti, a permit player who will mostly play for Vicenza this year: during international windows, when Ruzza, Cannone and Favretto are away, he could be useful straight away, not least because he’s already shown he can run a lineout. I’m really curious to see how he develops.
Back row: Negri is back, and a unit at its peak
The big news is that Seb Negri is back. We’ve seen him fit, playing almost eighty minutes, captaining the side in pre-season, and used in the wide five-metre channel, where I think Pivac wants him a lot. Neither Benetton nor Italy have another player like him: a can-opener, a bulldozer who is also improving at the lineout. Welcome back.
Alongside him are So’otala Fa’aso’o, Michele Lamaro, who I imagine will stay captain, Manuel Zuliani, recovering from shoulder surgery and, I reckon, back around round four or five, Alessandro Izekor, sidelined by a muscle injury, Lorenzo Cannone and Giulio Marini, a real workhorse. It’s a unit of different profiles (Zuliani steals ball like almost nobody else in the world) with several players at their peak. Negri, the most experienced, could be managed with some rotation. Among the prospects, watch out for Antony Miranda, seen in pre-season.
Why is the pack the key to Pivac’s Benetton?
Because it’s the unit with the most depth and the fewest question marks, while at half-back and in midfield the departures of Albornoz, Menoncello and Fekitoa have left a building site. A solid front row, a well-drilled lineout and a quality back row are the safest platform for the moving, ball-in-hand rugby Pivac has in mind.
This year Treviso have to anchor their game in the scrum.
If the forwards live up to their pre-season promise, Benetton will always have something to hold on to. Even on the bad days.
Read also: Benetton’s summer under Pivac: slightly weaker, but patience is needed
Read also: Benetton beat Black Lion 36-14: the scrum makes the difference
Read also: Benetton: the Pivac era begins, and the test against Black Lion
Who’s your key man up front? Tell us in the comments on the DanPat Rugby YouTube channel.
Danilo — DanPat Rugby