Mallett rejects accusations that his side 'disappeared'

NOBODY EVER said it was easy being the coach of Italy. Certainly it was not pretty yesterday as Italy’s South African coach Nick Mallett faced an Italian press corps that accused his side of having “disappeared” after half-time.

Mallett, however, was not even that pleased with his side’s first-half performance notwithstanding the fact they had been leading right up to half-time. “We made too many mistakes, like their intercepted try and the two yellow cards we got. From that viewpoint, I was very disappointed with our discipline . . . Yet, I did see a team that had a lot of heart and courage in the first half.

“But as for the second half, it’s not that we disappeared, it is simple, we had to defend too much. My players were really exhausted by the end and our defence was in difficulty. We can defend for 60 minutes, but not for 80.”

Given Italy have now played England and Ireland, Mallett was asked to comment on the qualities of both teams in view of their forthcoming encounter at Croke Park in two weeks’ time: “Look, when you lose by the number of points, we have lost to both teams, you simply don’t have the right to comment on the others, we’ve got to worry about our own game.”

Some Italian colleagues suggested Mallett and his captain, Sergio Parisse, might also have to worry about disenchanted Italian fans. Towards the end of yesterday’s game, it seemed maybe Italian rugby was about to import one of the less attractive aspects of Italian soccer fan behaviour, namely the home fans whistling at their team.

“Look our fans should know it is not just them, but also us who are bitterly disappointed,” said Parisse. “We know only too well we’ve got to give them better things to think about and prove that we deserve them.”

Parisse was also asked to explain how Italy had managed to give Ireland and England a much harder run for their money last year, losing by heavier scores this time around. “Look, it’s just the height of mediocrity to compare defeat with defeat. If you lose by 20 points or one point, at the end of the day you’ve still lost and I was always taught to play to win. With all due respect, I really don’t want to hear questions like that.”

Traditionally, Italian rugby looks forward to the game against Scotland, because they sometimes win that tie. Italy’s first Six Nations match saw them beat Scotland at the Flaminio.

So are Italy looking forward to a trip to Murrayfield in two weeks’ time? “Scotland are a good team,” cautions Parisse. “Given the performance against France yesterday, you’ve got to respect them, especially playing them in Edinburgh.”

Mallett is equally cautious. After a defeat like yesterday’s, he was not making any dramatic promises. Indeed he even suggested perhaps this was not the “ideal” moment to meet Italy’s favourite team. Perhaps fearing the worse, Mallett could not even take any consolation from the fact Scotland had lost in Paris, pointing out they had played well.

“I cannot say we don’t want to play them, our fixture list is our fixture list and we’ve got to go out there and play and hope that we play better,” he said.

And so say all Italian rugby fans.