Italians set to add a little fizz

RUGBY MAGNERS LEAGUE: Gerry Thornleytalks to Aironi Rugby captain Josh Sole about the ambitious plans of the new Italian franchises

THE BIGGEST unknown quantity by far in the coming Magners League will be Aironi Rugby. Whereas Benetton Treviso have retained much of their old identity as one of the two new super franchises in Italian rugby, Aironi are much more of a new entity and have thus tapped into the rest of Italian rugby.

The new club will be based in Viadana, in the region of Lombardy, and Viadana remain the largest shareholders in Aironi as well as being the bulk suppliers of the new squad.

As for Viadana themselves in this brave new world of Italian rugby, they will no longer compete as a professional club. The senior and under-20 teams have merged with GranDucato Parma Rugby, and the club will continue as an independent at under-age level as well as one senior amateur team, thereby acting as a feeder for Parma and ultimately Aironi and the Italian national set-up.

All told, 18 players, mostly those in the Italian A and under-20 set-ups, have been signed from other Italian Super 10 outfits outside of Viadana, while amid the smattering of overseas signings (among them Munster number eight Nick Williams) five Azzurri campaigners have made a prodigal return home: the frontrow quartet of Fabio Ongaro, Matias Aguero, Salvatore Perugini and Fabian Stabano, as well as the former Azzurri captain, lock Marco Bortolami.

After five years with Viadana, their Kiwi-born flanker Josh Sole, who has been capped 46 times by the Azzurri, admits: “The anticipation in the club is huge. It’s been great to see so many improvements in terms of the training facilities, with a bigger gym and a new swimming pool.

“The stadium (the Stadio Zaffanella) has been completely renovated to accommodate more spectators, and the publicity around the club has been much bigger, with a lot more advertising.

“And the return of Fabio Ongaro, Salvatore Perugini and Marco Bortolami has generated a lot of interest as well.”

Sole has no doubt Italian rugby will be better for this re-organisation and revitalisation.

“Oh definitely. The (Italian) federation have contracted 60-odd players in two different teams. We’ve got a lot of good young Italian players from the other Super 10 teams, so we’ve got the cream of the crop. One of the problems with the Super 10 in Italy, aside from the refereeing,” he noted dryly, and a tad ominously, “was the lack of squad depth.

“Treviso and Viadana had more depth than the others, but even they were exposed towards the end of the season by competing in the Heineken Cup as well. So the more depth we’ve got is going to be a good thing.

“Also, going from the Super 10 to playing in the Heineken Cup is not going to be such a crazy jump.”

In this, Sole echoes the views of head coach Franco Bernini, who says one of the prime benefits will be the five rounds of Magners League fixtures which the Italian sides will have before entering the Heineken Cup. “It’s a shock, man,” admits Sole, “even for players like myself who’ve been lucky enough to have played a fair bit of Test rugby. Going from the Super 10 to the Heineken Cup, it took me 40 minutes to get used to that new level again.”

Domestic expectations fly in the face of the feeling outside Italy that their teams might struggle in the league, and Sole is realistic enough to balance the two views.

“There are going to be a few bumps along the way,” he admits, “but I think we might hum along pretty well and do better than a lot of people think. My own goal would be to finish eighth. I think that would be an outstanding achievement. Obviously we’re not going to win the thing, but a top-eight finish would be good.

“Another goal is not to only be strong at home. Everybody knows that Italian teams are very tough to beat at home, but I would like to see us pick up some away wins.”

Viadana take on Northampton Saints in Franklin’s Gardens tomorrow night in their final pre-season game before travelling to Cork for their league debut against Munster eight days later. They then welcome Ulster in round two. Sole says the influx of new players has been largely overcome by their familiarity with each other at combined Italian senior, A and under-20 camps.

“Everyone knows each other quite well and there’s been no problem about mixing.”

Born in Hamilton, the former Waikato backrower’s mother, Gianna Di Stefano, hails from a town 40 minutes north of Naples and moved to New Zealand when she was four. So he made the calculated decision to leave his native province in 2005 just before Warren Gatland took over and took them to the NPC title.

“I have Italian heritage through my mother and grandmother, so I went with the possibilities this offered. It was a hard choice. Growing up in New Zealand, it’s every kid’s dream to play for the All Blacks. But realistically that was always going to be hard to achieve and I knew I had a chance to play for Italy.

“It’s worked out well for me. I’ve played 46 times for Italy and I want to be playing for them in the World Cup next year in New Zealand. That’s the goal.”

Of the Celtic nations who approved the arrival of the Italian sides, Ireland and Wales were the more enthusiastic. But the IRFU were arguably the more magnanimous given the Azzurri should reap the benefits in the next 12 months before playing Ireland in the pool stages of the World Cup.

“We can only improve,” Sole believes, “and it should certainly do us more favours than Ireland.”