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Two mistakes in the closing minutes. That’s the image Mattia Andretti’s World Championship risks being remembered by, and it’s precisely the wrong one.
“We shouldn’t be judging him today on the last two errors alone.”
Because before those two moments, his game in Kutaisi had been a high-level performance. And because those two errors say something quite different from what they appear to say.
Andretti, the sniper off the tee
Italy’s nine finished the tournament as one of its leading figures, and off the tee he was exactly what he looked like: a killer, a sniper. Then, late on, the reverse pass that went forward and wiped out a superb try, and the hesitation on an interception as he looked to put a team-mate away.
The point is that these were errors “aimed at doing something extra” — not lapses in concentration, but attempts to invent. At twenty, those go in the ledger as part of the deal. In fact they should be allowed. A scrum-half who won’t try the play at that age is a scrum-half who never will.
Opoku-Gyamfi is more than power
Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi’s try looks like the usual physical burst, but watch it again and there’s more: a change of entry angle and a ball moved from one hand to the other. That’s rugby, not just kilos.
The logic on him is simple. A good season at Bath, and an extended pre-World Cup squad stops being a fantasy.
Who else?
The list keeps growing. Jaheim Noel Wilson confirmed what had already been glimpsed — with a card he could probably have done without. Giacomo Falchetto is a genuine find. Pietro Celi got his minutes. And the encouraging part is that several of these players are in their first year at this level, or are two years younger than their direct rivals: for many, there’s another Under-20 campaign to come, maybe two.
That’s before counting who wasn’t in Georgia at all: Malik Faissal was with the senior squad, Edoardo Todaro and Alessandro Drago were sidelined by injury. Which makes the whole thing more interesting still: this wasn’t even a full-strength Italy U20.
Now the hard part starts
Kutaisi closed the 2025-26 season and opened the one that leads to the World Cup. For these players it means one thing: going home “with one more brick in the backpack” and finding out where they actually land.
Some will turn professional in Serie A Elite, some will find minutes in the URC, some will have to settle for a lower division and get back in the queue. This is where the talent seen in Georgia becomes a career, or doesn’t.
“Their adult rugby journey starts now.”
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Which of these players do you see in the blue jersey in three years? Tell me in the comments under the video — and subscribe, because we’ll be talking about this generation a lot.
DANPAT Rugby