THE HERALD REPORTS

Italian job a familiar story for Graham
NEIL DRYSDALE February 20 2009
George Graham must be feeling a sense of deja vu. During his time in Scottish rugby, both as an international prop and assistant coach to Frank Hadden, he witnessed enough outbreaks of the internecine warfare which dragged on between the clubs and the Scottish Rugby Union to last a lifetime or two.

Now, following his move to the Italian Super 10 club, Petrarca, he finds himself in the midst of similar uncertainty and conflict as the Azzurri's frazzled administrators attempt to enhance their domestic structure and become more competitive in the Heineken Cup and RBS 6 Nations.

This will require a balancing act, and the ructions are already in evidence. The bigger clubs, the likes of Calvisano and Treviso, have attracted major private-sector sponsorship and are opposed to the idea of their best players being snapped up by the Italian federation, for the purpose of establishing two "superteams" to enter the Magners League.



On the other hand, the lower-ranked organisations such as Rome-based Capitolina, feel that the only way to stem the tide of their country's worsening results in Europe is for a pooling of resources and admission to a tournament which will provide them with the standard they require to make genuine progress.

"It's the main topic of conversation over here and there is so much uncertainty that it is having a knock-on effect on everything else," said Graham. "If the federation does proceed with the decision to go into the Magners League, will it be 30 or 40 Italians who are given contracts by the governing body or will they stick with 15 or 20 guys and try to bolster the teams by recruiting a lot of big-name foreigners, such as has happened in France?

"Will the two new teams be based around Treviso and Calvisano and will these clubs still retain their own identity? What will happen to sponsorship agreements? And will Italian fans be prepared to travel to Scotland, Ireland and Wales every couple of weeks? Thereare just so many unanswered questions.

"From a personal viewpoint, the situation is making my job more difficult, because we can't plan ahead for the 2009-10 season, because, if the Italians do enter the Magners League, we might lose some of our best players. One of the biggest problems is the lack of communication from the federation, but I have to do the best Ican for Petrarca and ifthings change quickly, Ihave to adapt to it."

One can sympathise with Graham but, even if it is improbable that there will be any significant changes to the Magners League before the 2010-11 season at the earliest, what isn't in doubt is Italy's failure to capitalise on joining the Six Nations almost a decade ago.

Their present coach, Nick Mallett, made a glaring mistake in selecting Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half for the England game at Twickenham earlier this month, which gifted victory to the hosts, but the ease with which an under-par Ireland brushed aside Mallett's side 38-9 during a dire contest in Rome last Sunday testified to the lumpen predictability and one-dimensional nature of Italian rugby.

In that light it is hardly surprising that Graham believes that Scotland will add to their pain when the two sides square up at Murrayfield on Saturday week, with Hadden's men desperate to atone for the 2007 fiasco when Italy were gifted a hat-trick of tries in the opening six minutes and subsequently triumphed by 20 points.

"I think the Scots will win and will win well. They impressed me against France and, if we can cut out the little mistakes and basic errors which cost us dearly in Paris, we could well gain payback for what happened two years ago," said Graham.

"If it was up to me, Iwould have Al Kellock and Kelly Brown in my starting XV, but the Evans brothers Thom and Max obviously made a good impression against the French and, if their confidence can spread through the side, Scotland might give somebody a real beating - which I hope occurs sooner rather than later."

This article was posted on 20-Feb-2009, 08:11 by Hugh Barrow.