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Italy earned their high-school diploma back in Udine, against Australia, and confirmed it against England. But a diploma, as everyone knows, only opens the door to university. And at university you sit exams. The first one, in Tokyo, Italy failed: bottom marks in every phase of the game.
On “Divagazioni di Rugby”, coach and Anonima Piloni voice Cristian Loviseto used exactly that image to frame the defeat to Japan. Not an isolated disaster, but the sign that the exams, from now on, are getting harder.
The fastest rugby in the world
Japan invented nothing new. They did exactly what they do best: run, never tire, play at a speed that always leaves you a step behind. It is the philosophy Eddie Jones already wrote into his 2015 playbook — that Japan side who would go on to topple South Africa at the World Cup.
“If I ask a Japanese player to run into the wall, he runs into the wall. If I ask a New Zealander, he runs around it. If I ask an Italian, he looks at me and asks why.”
The line, attributed to John Kirwan, explains more than a thousand analyses. Against a team that attacks you with speed, if you don’t reset in defence you get caught in the channels. And that is what happened: Italy, as Loviseto puts it, were “chasing everything” — the breakdown, the defensive realignment, arriving a fraction too late.
The scrum, a problem once more
The figure that makes the most noise is the scrum. From dominant in the Six Nations and in November, to being spun around by a Japanese prop who tried every trick in the book, with the referee soon at the mercy of both packs. What changed? Essentially two men: a different starter in the front row and, above all, a new scrum coach.
It is too early to draw conclusions, and Loviseto is the first to urge caution. But the question, as a fan, comes naturally: has a balance that seemed solid been broken?
The real exams start now
The risk, if anything, is reading the loss as a pre-peak “sluggishness”. If someone really set out thinking “against Japan this will do”, that would be an error of underestimation you simply cannot afford. Because in a tournament decided over three weeks there is no time to build towards a peak: either you’re there straight away, or you’re left behind.
The good news is that Italy, when they start as underdogs, always give a little extra. And the next exam — the All Blacks in Wellington — is one where nobody asks for a miracle, only that you get back on your feet.
Read also: Japan-Italy 27-10: what went wrong · Italy-All Blacks: line-ups and Marini’s debut · All news
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