Dominguez helped Italy break into rugby’s elite

RUGBY REVISITED

BRENDAN GALLAGHER TELLS HOW ITALY PLAYED THEIR WAY INTO THE TOP TIER OF EUROPEAN RUGBY

Brendan Gallagher looks at how Italy, inspired by a fly-half born in Argentina, broke down the door to join the Six Nations

DESPITE a strong tradition of rugby either side of World War II, the invitation-only Five Nations, for many years, simply wouldn't countenance Italy's inclusion. The IRB might have notionally been the world governing body, but the closed shop self-appointed commercial cabal of the Five Nations ran European rugby with an iron fist and ambitious upstarts had to be quashed rather than encouraged.

There was no room for ‘foreigners' other than France who had in any case been taught to toe the line by their expulsion in the 1930s. Expanding the game in Europe was just too difficult and inconvenient, amateur players would have to take yet more time off work and the question of compensation might be brought up again. No, the way forward was the annual Five Nations with an incoming tour from one of the big southern hemisphere nations most winters. The rest of Europe could hang itself.

Romania had met with similar opposition long before Italy while other nascent nations were effectively strangled at birth. There was no pathway, nowhere to go. It was a sorry state of affairs for many decades.

As a result, Italian rugby, cut off from the mainstream and barred from the corridors of power, went a little rogue. Wealthy local businessmen ran their clubs as personal fiefdoms and vanity projects and the key players were very well looked after, to employ the euphemism of the time. The Home Unions were very sniffy indeed about that, even though, by hook or by crook, many of their own players were also doing very nicely out of the game.

Huge foreign stars from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand started playing for the big Italian clubs and enjoyed quality time in arguably the world's most beautiful country. Indeed many settled in paradise. Big-name coaches such as Carwyn James also enjoyed the lifestyle and ambience. The Italian rugby scene was not without its attractions.

Italian rugby took on a certain raffish exotic air and a number of their clubs at various times – Milan, Rovigo and Treviso – were pretty strong, especially when the likes of Naas Botha, David Campese, John

“Italy needed to forget the politics and put together work which would get them noticed”

Kirwan and Michael Lynagh were spearheading their efforts. Come the inaugural Heineken Cup, Treviso travelled to Toulouse to meet a fully booted and suited rouge et noir and only lost 18-9. They were ballpark. Many domestic players flourished in their company, indeed James – who coached Rovigo between 1977 and 1980 – rated the Treviso midfield of brothers Rino and Nello Francescato as good as any in world rugby.

Internationally they were probably where Georgia are now. Comfortably the best of the rest in Europe. The strongest team in FIRA

if you discount France who often felt the need to send nigh on full strength teams to fulfil their annual FIRA fixtures with Italy. The reality though is they simply weren't wanted by the Five Nations. Frustratingly, then as now, there was no pathway or meritocracy for an emerging team to state their case over a period of time.

Italy though did have one massive, crucial, advantage over modern day Georgia. In that amateur era, and in the very early years of professionalism, the Test fixture list was not so crowded and there was ample room for regular friendly internationals with what we now call T1 nations.

They might be viewed as mere warm-up games by the Five Nations, a chance to blood new players and also a source of welcome extra income. Scraps thrown in the direction of Italy but Italy unilaterally decided to upgrade the games. In their own minds at least. They would contest them as full-on internationals, quasi “Six Nations” games.

And then luck and fate kicked in. You can do little without either. A freakishly talented generation of players emerged, an inspirational swaggering skipper in swashbuckling flanker Massimo Giovanelli, an ambitious president in Maurizio Mondelli who set the unlikely goal of Six Nations membership and then his successor, the arch politician and negotiator in Giancarlo Dondi who ruled the roost in Italy for 16 years.

Oh and one other thing. Taking an inspired punt, they tempted a young Argentinian to Italy. Diego Dominguez had already won two Pumas caps in low key Tests against Chile and Paraguay in 1989 but Hugo Porta was reluctant to retire and Dominguez felt thwarted. Dominguez was a young man in a hurry and before long he had joined Milan, in 1990, and with the Union claiming some rather vague Italian heritage he made the switch immediately. By 1991 he was making his debut in a narrow defeat against a particularly strong France A team in Rome.

I first encountered many of those players in a narrow Italy B defeat against England B at the Flaminio Stadium in Rome in March 1992. Italy B were in truth the national team plus a couple of promising youngsters but then again the England B team were rammed with past and future England caps and indeed future Lions stars. Later in 1992 I was back in Italy reporting on the World Students Cup – a forerunner of the Junior World Cup – and in those free booting times often found myself hitching a lift with the Italians on their team coach as they travelled around.

They are an impressive bunch and only lost their semi-final in L'Aquila to eventual winners France when Thierry Lacroix landed a monster 60 yard penalty from his own half.

The talent was coming through and something good was building. The Cuttitta brothers Marcello and Massimo – Italian born, South African raised – wing Paolo Vaccari, the ever versatile Ivan Francescato who had scored one of the tries of RWC1991 against the USA, scrum-half Alessandro Troncon, hooker Carlo Orlandi, locks Roberto Favaro and Mark Giacheri, and the athletic Franco Properzi Curti at prop. The latter in his pomp had a decent claim to be the world's best tighthead. And of course, they had Dominguez, as good a dead ball kicker as I have ever witnessed in professional rugby and a competitor with nerves of steel. His record of 1,010 points in 76 Tests stands the test of time, with Italy big underdogs and on the back foot in many of those games.

The door, after decades of being slammed shut in their face, was just opening slightly. There was a thin shaft of light shining through. Italy needed to forget the politics for a moment, what they urgently needed to do was to put a body of work together that made the Five Nations suits sit up and notice… and get the public on side.

Which is exactly what they did. Between 1993 and 1997 with just the occasional blip, Italy were extremely competitive against all-comers. They claimed seven notable wins – three against Ireland, one against France, another against a France XV, and further victories over Scotland and Argentina. There were also a series of nail bitingly close matches against the French, England, Australia and two belters against Wales. Italy were right up there, a properly good Test team.

It was a series of wins and close calls that with all due respect to Georgia the Lelos have yet to match with their results of real heft being a win over Wales in Cardiff and most recently an away Test victory in Japan. There has also been honour in defeat most recently last week against Australia. Again, we should note that outside of World Cups their opportunities have been considerably fewer. Objectively though Georgia have not yet reached that tipping point where the Six Nations is forced to react. It's not remotely a fair system, in fact it stinks the place out, but it's the reality.

“It seemed to be going Italy's way but there was still opposition, mainly from Ireland”

Frustratingly for Italy there was a false dawn in 1996 when England's determination to pursue their own TV deal with Sky, at one stage, saw the remaining four nations line up Italy to take England's place. It was brinkmanship – they were calling England's bluff – and to that extent it worked with England immediately backtracking and deciding to toe the collective line. It was, however, an important moment. If Italy were good enough to help out the Five Nations in such an emergency, why could they not be considered when normality had returned? Another seed had been sowed.

It seemed to be going Italy's way but there was still opposition, mainly from Ireland who were enduring a particularly frustrating dip in their on field fortunes and were perhaps feeling vulnerable after the first two of those three defeats against Italy in friendlies. Scotland were also feeling vulnerable and digging in. The message that Dondi got when he quizzed the Five Nations delegates more closely was that they accepted Italy were now of the required standard but commercially they were not convinced of their suitability. What would they contribute materially?

The fact that a £260m TV deal was in the offing may also have played against Italy. Split that six ways rather than five and there would be a marked decline in planned incomes for which budgets had been set. It was the early days of professionalism and the scrap for money was frantic. Step back a minute though. The thought that five nations, motivated by their own vested interests, should have such power over another team's future remains pretty repulsive, it's the thumbs up or thumbs down of the Colosseum. Is this how international rugby should be governed?

It might be a coincidence – although almost certainly not – but at the very next opportunity Italy countered with possibly their greatest ever win, certainly the most timely. Toward the end of March they travelled to Grenoble to defeat Five Nations Grand Slam champions France 40-32, with France only making the score respectable with two late tries. It was a statement of intent as well as an expression of anger.

The momentum ramped up again. It was now or never. Some of the Italians were getting a little long in the tooth. One last effort. Either side of Christmas 1997 they defeated Ireland and Scotland in short order. The case was now unanswerable on moral ground more than anything else. The rugby public was also demanding Italy's inclusion. The commercial viability had to take second place, as did other concerns about the strength in depth in the Italian game, number of senior clubs, presence of rugby in the schools.

The French and English were very much on board and, although the Celtic nations were still nervous at the prospect, the Italians did have a huge ally in the influential IRB chairman Vernon Pugh, the recently retired chairman of the WRU. His voice was a strong one in Wales and he was steadily working away in the background to convince Ireland and Scotland.

Pugh was a massive supporter of the Italian cause, indeed we had constantly bumped into him at various cafes and motorway services travelling around Italy during the 1992 World Student Cup when he was talking to all and sundry and taking the temperature. Just as he was determined to make the game open, Pugh was also very focused on getting Italy across the line. He succeeded in both.

Early in February 1998 the Five Nations executive committee convened again and finally caved in if that's the correct expression and revoked its decision of a year earlier and recommended inclusion, starting in February 2000. The new Millennium was going to start with a bang. Italy were in.

We have chronicled elsewhere in these pages Italy's extraordinary Six Nations debut on February 4, 2000 when they unleashed decades of frustration to beat the reigning Five Nations champions Scotland 34-20 on a picture perfect sunny afternoon in Rome when the overriding thought was why has this taken so long? And in many ways it was a bittersweet win. It was the final defiant act of an exhausted team. Indeed, for Giovanelli it was literally his final appearance on a Test pitch, he suffered a serious eye injury that required surgery and retirement. There were very hard times ahead for the Italians but this was their day.

Giovanelli sums it all up with enviable eloquence: “It was the most beautiful rugby day of my life. I felt like the captain of a great sailship who had spent his life navigating rough seas and surviving the tempests and feeling perhaps everybody has forgotten him. But then finally we arrived at the tranquillity of our home port, a great welcome and a great triumph. I get very emotional thinking about it still and that's before I even consider the game itself.

“After the match I knew the eye was very bad, that it was over for me, so there was sadness and happiness. But mainly happiness. We had all shared the dream for many years and given a lot to the cause. When we ran on to Flaminio that day my first thought was for Ivan Francescato, our brilliant scrum-half who had dropped dead after a game the year before. He was with us that day.

“I spent my rugby life trying to help Italy into the championship. It was my mission, our mission. It drove us very hard. We were strong – we had beaten France and everybody in Europe except for England – but we were an ageing team on our last legs. We were running out of energy with only a few young players like Mauro Bergamasco coming through. Because we hadn't expected the door to open after so many setbacks – hoped yes, expected no – we simply had not planned enough for the future. Our focus was on just getting in. And that is the problem that has troubled Italy throughout our time in the Six Nations.

“We have had one truly great player – Sergio (Parisse) – and some very good individual players at times and a few upset wins to keep the morale good but only now do we really have the constant supply of good young players to start being competitive in every game. Now we have arrived in that position, the next great mission must be to win the tournament itself.”