Former Italian international Tommaso Castello proclaimed that gaining experience is central to the development of the Azzurri’s squad following their 31-14 loss to England in round two of the Six Nations.
Speaking on The Rugby Paper Podcast, Castello, who won 18 caps for Italy during his career, was not discouraged despite the loss and expressed that the experience can only be positive for the evolution of Italy’s youthful side.
He said: “If you count the number of caps England had and compared it to the number of caps of the Italian side, the game should’ve finished 80-0!
“I think the expectations are very high at the moment, maybe even higher than they should be, but it’s good because as Italians we live off passion and we live off excitement.
“Losing games like last weekend is good because it takes us back to the ground, after France we maybe thought we were better than we actually are and by losing against England we know there’s still a long way to go but we are definitely on the right road.”
Despite winning the second half, Italy weren’t able to overcome their English hoodoo as they remain one of just two tier one sides, along with New Zealand, that the Azzurri have yet to beat.
“There’s a bit of mental weakness in a sense when it comes to playing against England,” the former Zebre captain added.
Italy’s renewed confidence has come as a result of Kieran Crowley’s promotion of young talent with the likes of Ange Capuozzo, Lorenzo Cannone and Stephen Varney all becoming key figures in the side under his tutelage.
The former Benetton coach took over Italy in May 2021 and has transformed this exuberant Italian outfit into one that poses a genuine threat to tier one nations, a threat that was long missing before his arrival.
Since stepping in, Italy snapped their tortuous 36-game Six Nations losing streak after their famous win against Wales in Cardiff last year and achieved their first-ever victory over Australia in last year’s Autumn Nations Series.
After being announced as Italy’s head coach, Crowley expressed that his five years coaching Benetton allowed him to learn and understand the country’s rugby culture and Castello believes that he is the central reason for Italy’s rise in recent years.
He said: “I think Crowley is the real reason why Italy has improved so much over the last 18 months.
“I think the most important skill that a national team head coach must have is to get the best out of the players because you don’t have them for enough time to tailor their skills.
“You have grown men who have their set of skills and they know how to play the game but at different levels, so what you need to do is get the best out of them and I think that Crowley in this sense is the best person for Italy.”
Crowley remains undecided on his post-World Cup future but it’s fair to say that Italian fans are hoping that the 61-year-old continues to build on what he’s started, especially with the prospect of a strong crop of Under 20s talent breaking through into the first team in the coming years.
“What the challenge will be is finding someone who carries on what Crowley has brought in,” he added. “We need to find someone with his mentality and his charisma”
Written by Cameron Stephens
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