Italy’s rugby revival: three right coaches, right time

There’s an image Moreno Molla uses to explain where Italian rugby restarted from: «we drive the wrong way down the motorway». It was the philosophy with which Kieran Crowley had decided to approach matches: if you do what everyone else does, you lose anyway, so you might as well dare.

But for Molla, a guest on “Punto d’Incontro”, the Azzurri’s revival isn’t the work of one man. It’s the result of an almost perfect relay: three very different head coaches, each arriving exactly when he was needed.

Why Italy has been reborn in rugby

According to Moreno Molla, because it put «the three right coaches at the right time»: Franco Smith did the dirty foundation work, Kieran Crowley built the fundamentals and the identity, Gonzalo Quesada taught the team to win and rebalanced it.

Franco Smith, the dirty work

«We forget about Franco Smith», Molla notes. Yet what the former head coach did in those two years in charge of Italy was the first, thankless piece of work: shovelling away the dirt, cleaning up, laying the foundations. An unglamorous but necessary task, one Smith later proved he could do elsewhere too, taking over Glasgow.

«Driving the wrong way»: Crowley’s legacy

Then it was Kieran Crowley’s turn. Many remember him for the winless season at Benetton, but that same year ended with the Rainbow Cup in the cabinet. The first thing Crowley put in place, Molla recalls, was the fundamentals: on their knees doing passes, skills, basic abilities, attention to detail. At that moment the players needed exactly this — focusing on performance rather than the result. And the courage to drive the wrong way.

Quesada, the master who teaches you to win

Finally Gonzalo Quesada, who according to Molla said «easy, let’s rebalance». And for good reason: those players who were 19 under Smith and 21 under Crowley are now 23-24 with a suitcase full of international caps. A mature group, to be managed differently.

You catch the tactical detail from how Ange Capuozzo plays: under Quesada he touches fewer balls, because Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello are the first to attack, and Capuozzo becomes a finisher, as at Toulouse. Molla’s verdict is clear: at international level Quesada is «among the three or four best coaches in the world», a «wizard at relating to players», able to make everyone feel important and united around his vision. The comparison is with Rassie Erasmus, with one significant difference: «Rassie has 60 champions, we don’t have so many players of that level». Which makes Quesada’s work, perhaps, even more impressive.

«In rugby, Italy put the three right coaches at the right time.»

The bottom line

• Franco Smith: le fondamenta, il lavoro sporco.
• Kieran Crowley: i fondamentali e l’identità, la prestazione prima del risultato.
• Gonzalo Quesada: l’equilibrio e la mentalità vincente.

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