RUGBY/Italy 22 France 21:ITALY, THEIR first Six Nations win over France in their pocket, will head to Murrayfield on Saturday knowing they probably have to win again if they are to save their coach's job. Nick Mallett may want to stay in place, and he said as much after the remarkable last-gasp win at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday, but there is a strong feeling that he will be gone after the World Cup unless his side can ward off a fourth successive Six Nations wooden spoon.
The Italian captain, the number eight Sergio Parrisse, rushed to his coach’s side – “He’s the only coach who believed in us,” he said, “I want to dedicate this victory to him” – ahead of the talks that the coach will have with the national federation after the Scotland game. There are suggestions that the job may already have gone.
Jacques Brunel, the manager at Perpignan, has told his players he will leave in the summer and take over as Italy coach after the World Cup. The Catalan club are believed to have approached Jacques Delmas, a former coach of Biarritz and Stade Francais, to fill the vacancy, even though the official line from the Italian federation is that they still have to talk to Mallett.
Giancarlo Dondi, the president of the Italian Rugby Federation, said Brunel was just one name being considered. “Jacques Brunel is a good coach and we have sounded him out as we have other coaches,” said Dondi. “We haven’t talked yet to Nick Mallett. We will talk after the Six Nations.”
According to Mallett, those talks on whether his four-year contract is extended will hinge on whether Italy’s improved form this season will be enough to swing things in his favour. “I want to stay,” said the South African on Saturday evening. “It’s whether they want me. We could have beaten both Ireland and Wales and played today against a good French team, who have reached two World Cup finals and have always thrashed Italy really, so it’s a huge achievement.”
“It’s one of the proudest moments as coach, for sure,” added Mallett, who set records with South Africa, taking them to 17 consecutive wins, and twice won the French championship with Stade Francais. “But the joy has been about improving a side. I have coached good sides before but (with Italy) I’ve stuck with the same group over the last three years.”
On Saturday they rewarded him in a pulsating match, during which Italian heads refused to drop even as they trailed 18-6 with less than 30 minutes to play. That was when Mirco Bergamasco missed two kickable penalties within minutes but the full-back Andrea Masi turned things around with a try that made the best of clever passing by the wing Tomasso Benvenuti and the scrum-half Fabio Semenzato.
Not only did the try get the Italian crowd firmly behind their players but the supporters also inspired Bergamasco to get back on the straight and narrow, landing the conversion to make it a two-point game and then a penalty to match one from the French scrum-half, Morgan Parra, and then another penalty from wide out on the left that gave him 17 points for the game and the Italians a one-point lead with six minutes to go.
They had been behind from the 14th minute, when Vincent Clerc chipped and chased for France’s first try, and they had slipped further adrift when Parra made the best of good work by his out-half Francois Trinh-Duc to score France’s second. “Two years ago heads might have gone down,” said Mallett.
ITALY: Masi; Benvenuti, Canale, Garcia, Bergamasco; Orquera, Semenzato; Lo Cicero, Festuccia, Castrogiovanni, Dellape, Del Fava, Zanni, Barbieri, Parisse. Replacements: Burton for Orquera (57 mins), Perugini for Lo Cicero (47 mins), Ghiraldini for Festuccia (47 mins), Geldenhuys for Dellape (53 mins), Derbyshire for Barbieri (57 mins). Not used: Canavosio, McLean.
FRANCE: Medard; Huget, Rougerie, Jauzion, Clerc, Trinh-Duc, Parra; Marconnet, Servat, Mas, Pierre, Nallet, Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Chabal. Replacements: Traille for Jauzion (70 mins),Guirado for Servat (61 mins), Ducalcon for Mas (40 mins), Thion for Nallet (56), Harinordoquy for Chabal (56 mins). Not used: Tomas, Poitrenaud.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand).
