Murray Kinsella reports from Stadio Olimpico
ALL VERY RELAXED in Rome, but then how could it not be with clear skies and a soul-warming sun sitting over the Italian capital.
Conor O’Shea gathers his team around him and delivers a speech containing an impressive amount of Italian, as well as a few key messages in English. His press officer confirms that the Irishman is getting there with the language.
O’Shea speaks to his team in Rome. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
Afterwards, Mike Catt stands with the backs to discuss attack, while Brendan Venter picks out individual players for a quiet word about defence. It’s quite the coaching staff Italy have assembled.
O’Shea is the right man in the right place, tasked with lifting Italian rugby towards being a genuinely top-tier nation.
“He brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the team,” says Italy captain Sergio Parisse of the Irishman’s influence, before pointing to the biggest task on O’Shea’s hands in Italy.
Many of these Italian players are accustomed to losing rugby matches, perhaps even conditioned to lose them. Old habits die hard, but O’Shea must crack a tradition that is rooted in Italy’s club game.
“He’s really confident in our potential, he believes in us, and his most important challenge is to change our mentality,” says Parisse, “because most of the guys in the team have the habit every week to be criticised, have no wins with Zebre or Treviso.
“Sometimes human nature… when everyone says to you that you don’t do your work properly every day, every day, every day, sometimes you maybe think you are not good enough to do the job. This is our big challenge.
“It’s not always the fault of the players, sometimes it’s that they play every single week in a negative environment, especially in Zebre. Treviso less, but Zebre play in a disaster situation at the moment, so it’s difficult to expect to have players with a positive, winning mentality.
“That’s the huge challenge for Conor. We can’t change everything like that [in an instant], but for the long-term project it’s important for him to put things in a good way to have the team playing in a good club environment.”
Parisse remains the key man for Italy. Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
O’Shea has stressed the need for Italy to battle against the perceptions around their rugby, particularly in terms of being poorly disciplined and physically unfit.
But those two issues came to the fore again last weekend as Italy folded in the second half against Wales at Stadio Olimpico, conceding too many penalties and failing to deal with the Welshmen’s stronger finish.
Ireland, too, will expect to push clear in the final 20 minutes.