Now backs coach to the Italian team, Alessandro Troncon feels the pain of the last World Cup can drive the Azzurri on, writes GERRY THORNLEY

ONE OF the abiding and most poignant images of the last World Cup is of a distraught Alessandro Troncon, Italy’s warrior scrumhalf, after the final whistle in St Etienne on this very weekend four years ago. As he cried a fountain of tears, some team-mates tried to console him, but to no avail. For Troncon, the dream and his playing career were over.

Italy had just lost 18-16 to Scotland in their final pool game, coming within a kick of victory and a breakthrough World Cup quarter-final.

Dominant in the scrum and especially with their maul, the Azzurri opted for a 45-metre kick at goal with seven minutes left rather that work their way up the touchline and bide their time.

On his 101st and last appearance for the Azzurri, Troncon had scored the game’s only try (Chris Paterson kicking six penalties for the Scots), and reminded of that game yesterday it’s clear this defeat hurt the most.

Aside from Troncon, now their backs coach, the Azzurri are likely to have seven of the starting line-up and a few others on the bench this Sunday who played that night, and most of them may not have another chance like this to write a new page in Italy’s rugby history.

“The players that played four years ago, they have a great memory of that game and about the atmosphere of that game, before and after the match,” said Troncon yesterday with a wry smile. “So I think that is a very good motivation to try to play our game.”

The pain of that defeat will be a bigger spur than the consequences of victory, which are almost too dizzying for Troncon to contemplate. “We have to be focused only on our match and on Ireland. It’s too big for us to think of what it could mean to reach the quarter-finals.”

“Yes, it’s a big opportunity, and a very important game for Italian rugby,” he admitted. “After a good first half against Australia we lost, but not in the same way that we lost to New Zealand four years ago (when beaten 76-14 in their opener in Marseilles).

“We played two matches since and the team is improving with each match. We have scored 13 tries, one more than the Irish team, and maybe we could score more. So the spirit is totally different (from four years ago).”

An interesting point, perhaps spoken with some pride, given so much focus has been on the Italian scrum. “We know that we play against a good (Irish) team, a team that is used to playing matches like this, with a lot of experience. Maybe someone can say that it’s an old team but there are too many great players that know how to play this kind of game.

“Against Australia, for them it was a very important match and most of their preparation was about that match and they won. And they know that the match against us will be, even for them, life or go home, and so I think they are prepared to play a very good match and a tough match against us. So I think it will be the best Ireland that we can see.”

Troncon was never on a winning side against Ireland and in Rome in 2005 famously incurred a red card late on when, acutely frustrated, he punched Peter Stringer. Asked if he liked playing against Ireland, Troncon laughed and said: “Not now, but before yes. Every time I like.” And he chuckles once more.

Troncon’s celebrated career took in four World Cups, three years with Clermont Auvergne and five Italian championships with Treviso. He made his Test debut in 1994, and was brought onto the coaching ticket immediately after the 2007 World Cup by Nick Mallett, for whom this will be his last game in charge if Italy don’t win.

“He has been a big influence,” admits Troncon. “It’s enough just to see the improvement in the team during the last two years. He gives his all to this team, a team that maybe is not spectacular, but sometimes more concrete than before. He give a lot.”

The Azzurri have not been helped by a schedule that only gives them a five-day turnaround before fronting up against Ireland after being extended for much of the 80 minutes by the USA in Nelson on Tuesday night, and Troncon was less inclined than others to play this factor down.

“This is a little problem, because four days is not enough and the recovery is not only in the body, but with the head and the mind. For us against the USA it was life or death. Even the mental aspect was very demanding and intense. It is because of this that the four days are more concentrated on recovery, mentally and physically, and not much for training. One more training day is enough now, and what’s done is done.”

One of the backs under Troncon’s charge is centre Gonzalo Garcia, a second-half replacement in Rome this year who played a key part in the 75th-minute try by Luke McLean which briefly gave them the lead, and is one of five Argentinian-born players in the team.

His maternal grandfather hailed from Parma, and having represented Argentina at under-18 and under-21 level, moved to Calvisano in 2007. In 2008, he opted to play for the Azzurri.

No less than Ireland, and a la Los Pumas, the Italians draw heavily on emotion and the links with their supporters. Witness their national anthem – nobody sings it more lustily. “I think to be a passionate team is very important. So wearing this jersey and being all together on the field is something really special for us, and something that makes us emotional.”

He made his debut in Cape Town against the Springboks in the summer of 2008, and a week later helped Italy beat Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Garcia admits Italy’s defence will be “crucial” on Sunday, all the more so against the Gordon D’Arcy-Brian O’Driscoll axis. “They are two great players and two very experienced players. They always know the right thing to do on the field, and they certainly can manage well strong moments and weak moments in a game, so it certainly a huge challenge for us as a centre pairing, but we are very confident in ourselves.”

If selected, he says it will be the most important game of his life. “It is something we have worked for over the last four years. We have been together for the last four years, basically all the staff have been the same 100 per cent and the players the same, and it would be the best way possible to close this cycle.”