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Marcos Gallorini has already worn the Italy jersey — but as a boy, with the Under-20s. The senior one is still a target ahead of him. And when you ask whether it is a dream, the answer is blunt.
I won’t deny it — I confirm it.
For him it is almost a syllogism: if you reach a certain level and don’t aim for the national team, it’s hard to see what other goal could push you to stay up there, in the front row, where — he says — you also need to be a bit of a masochist.
A long queue ahead
The problem, if we want to call it that, is the competition. At tighthead prop Italy has a line of names, between those in the mix and those who could be recalled when needed. Gallorini knows it and doesn’t hide it: the road is long, and to travel it the talent that made him stand out at Under-20 is no longer enough. It takes minutes, scrummaging experience and consistency — the same bricks he started laying in his first Benetton season.
His friend Gasperini and the place that slipped away
On that same journey, one man came within touching distance. Nicholas Gasperini, a hooker and Marcos’s friend since they were ten at Vasari, was called to the Parma training camp but then left out of the 33 for the Nations Championship: with Lucchesi and Nicotera as the reference points, the choice for the third hooker fell on Pablo Dimcheff. For Gallorini it’s a shame, but also a signal: his friend, after a season as a protagonist with plenty of minutes, has now knocked on the door.
How much has Italy’s scrum grown?
The context, after all, is that of an Italy that has taken giant strides in the scrum: a unit that has become dominant and feared, no longer the designated victim against anyone. Gallorini sums it up with an anecdote picked up on national duty: a teammate reportedly confided the sheer delight of shoving back none other than South Africa. It is the environment the boy from Arezzo wants to enter as a protagonist.
The weight of expectation — the one that has followed him as a prospect for some time — doesn’t scare him: he treats it as fuel, not ballast. “It means I’m doing something good,” is his reading. The next step, now, is to turn that dream into a call-up.
Read also
- Marcos Gallorini, two cultures and one Azzurri dream
- The art of the scrum, by Gallorini: from Under-20 dominance to the wall of the pros
- Gallorini’s first professional season: two months in the stands, then the turnaround
How far is Gallorini from the senior Azzurri, in your view? Watch the full interview on the DanPat Rugby channel and tell us in the comments.
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