IT
EN
What a performance. I won’t pretend I didn’t expect it, but watching Italy put out so many new faces and so many new ideas and still play a complete game is the kind of thing that sends you home happy. Fontanafredda, 19 September, the opening match of the WXV Global Series and Plinio Sciamanna’s first game as head coach: 55-21 over Japan, nine tries, and above all a team.
On the live stream I talked about individuals. Here I want to start with the collective, because that’s where I saw the thing that matters most.
Why Italy looked like a solid team
You could see Japan struggling to get over the gain line. Italy recycled well in defence, reset their line well, and tackled a lot: forwards, backs, everyone. And then there was the hunger at the breakdown, the detail I liked most. We saw balls stolen in midfield, balls stolen by the forwards, balls stolen by the wingers.
That wasn’t a given. Japan had read the space behind the first defensive line well and kept going after it. The Sakura also scored two tries from the maul, and I’m sure that set-piece will be on the staff’s to-do list, ideally before South Africa. But up front, overall, good: Sgorbini held the scrum together and the lineout worked (a couple of wobbles late on, but early on it ran smoothly).
Ostuni Minuzzi as captain: the gifted try says it all
First match with the armband for Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi, on her 50th cap. Switched on, sharp, joining the line at the right moments. And late in the game she did something that, to me, explains the staff’s choice: she had the try within reach, I think she was getting there, and instead she threw a basketball-style pass to hand it to Aura Muzzo.
That’s what being a captain looks like too. Maybe it’s precisely that generosity that got her the job. That’s my guess, of course: some things you only know inside the dressing room. Meanwhile the try she did score, the one for 36-14, made her Italy Women’s all-time leading try scorer with 21.
D’Incà and Mannini: what changes in midfield?
Player of the match went to Sara Mannini, and rightly so. But next to her Alyssa D’Incà was a little tractor through the middle: I said it live and I’ll say it again, she’s a bit of a Menoncello of the women’s game. And watch out, because this very physical pairing gives Italy a set of options it used to have in a different form.
With Sillari we had a hugely intelligent centre (she was in the stands today, and I’m sure we’ll see her in blue again). Bea Rigoni is physical too, but perhaps always lacked that extra yard of pace. Now Italy has four centres who can be combined, if not more. And Rigoni herself, on late and visibly emotional but focused, is now being used as the back-up fly-half rather than at centre, because there are other options, including debutant Natascia Aggio.
Behind the pack, the half-backs did their job: Sofia Stefan brings an enviable wealth of experience, Emma Stevanin had an excellent game. Out wide, Granzotto and Muzzo were very good, with Ostuni Minuzzi working the deep channels.
Was Japan the right test?
You’ll say: fine, but this isn’t a side that stretches you out wide. It depends. Japan did look for space, and in the women’s game today plenty of teams, England and France above all, kick far more. In some respects it wasn’t the most probing test, that’s true. But in terms of covering the backfield it was, and Italy, after a slightly distracted start, began doing it well.
A sporting miracle that keeps going
I saw so many new faces. And I enjoyed myself.
I always say this national team, and I said it in the chat too, is a kind of sporting miracle.
All of this comes from a group that started under Di Giandomenico, passed through Raineri and Roselli, and is now opening a new cycle with Sciamanna. The real trial by fire is South Africa on Saturday 26 September, again in Fontanafredda. But today they laid the foundations, and they have our full trust.
Read also
Did you enjoy this one as much as I did? Tell me in the comments and subscribe to the YouTube channel: we’ll be live again on Saturday for South Africa.
Danilo — DanPat Rugby