Italian Rugby

[Hap]

Totally agree with you Scotty, I think the problem is that some Eccellenza's teams, that aren't part of the "permit player tank", disagree with this possible mechanism because they wouldn't get the chance to have those players and, in the end, they believe that the championship would be someway fake.

Please, one of my italian fellows much more into this kind of discussions, correct me if I wrote something wrong.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Would a reason why Italy don't do this is because off the European Championship and Challenge cup ?

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

wow, they're already gone ?, I'll try to get them back. So to any Italians here, what are you predicting for the six nations and what do you think will be squad will be ?

 

[Andre8]

Sorry guys, rrrrreally had to work a lot during this Christmas holidays!!
In a few days Brunel will announce the 6 Nations squad, let's see if there are some news..
I'd like to see Benvenuti back in the mix!
I'd also like to know which FH he's going to pick.. Haimona, after the 3 impressive first caps during last internationals,mis not really in good form ( he's always starting 12 or even on the bench for Zebre), Orquera is not playing a lot(probably he's the third choice in the no.10 spot for Zebre), while Allan is playing a little bit more at Perpignan but had no game time at all in November!!

 

[Skofic brothers]

League eccellenza starts tomorrow. Are there any league or team news?

 

[Chevalier]

any site or channel to watch Eccelenza? At least a place that shows the highlights of each round?

 

[Loohr]

The highlights are available on the youtube channel of some club.

Rovigo :
https://www.youtube.com/user/RugbyRovigoDelta/videos
Mogliano :
https://www.youtube.com/user/RugbyMogliano/videos
San Dona :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr4ninhUnM5OdYdQSung_9Q/videos
Petrarca :
https://www.youtube.com/user/RugbyPetrarcaPadova/videos
Lazio :
https://www.youtube.com/user/LazioRugby1927/videos

 

[Chevalier]

Thanks!!!! :buddies:

 

[amz]

How come is Italy in Tier 2? :huh:

 

[Jayatron]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2016/02/abysmal-azzurri

Interesting read. Still think they need to drop out of the Pro12 and professionalise their League again.

 

[stus768]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2016/02/abysmal-azzurri

Interesting read. Still think they need to drop out of the Pro12 and professionalise their League again.

Very interesting! Poor management in comparison to the argies. How big's the league?

 

[Jayatron]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Championship_of_Excellence

According to Wiki 10.

I would be interested to hear what some Italians think if any are hear. Or some of our Romanian friends, or any tier 2 nations.

Surely a professional league with a nation wide catchment and academies, with cross boarder competition with regular internationals fixtures is the best route for international development.

Not the current Italian model.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

The Italian youth structure is a mess, i don't understand it.

Obviously the reason i see them not professionalising they're league would be due to finance. But the fact that both off they're pro 12 teams have been 11th and 12th for the last 2 seasons and continuing to be 11th and 12th is quite worrying. But i do see Italy the same as Scotland under Scott Johnston, Italy has alot of good young prospects coming along its that they need the right coach to help them achieve more then they are right now. The pro 12 are the same its not the fact that they have bad players playing for both the Italian teams they just dont have the right structure in my opinion or the right coach.

Scotland also only have 2 teams in the pro 12, But what is making us better then the 2 Italian teams is that each of the players in the 2 Scotland teams are also contracted to the local teams in the main Scottish league (so teams like Ayr, Melrose, Heriots etc.) So players who aren't selected for the pro 12 teams can drop to those teams listed and play for them. So they are atleast still playing rugby so if they are needed to play for Edinburgh or Glasgow they are ready. If Italy can adopt a system like that they will have some more good players coming through to play and will improve Zebre and Treviso

 

[Tony Manx]

The Italian youth structure is a mess, i don't understand it.

Obviously the reason i see them not professionalising they're league would be due to finance. But the fact that both off they're pro 12 teams have been 11th and 12th for the last 2 seasons and continuing to be 11th and 12th is quite worrying. But i do see Italy the same as Scotland under Scott Johnston, Italy has alot of good young prospects coming along its that they need the right coach to help them achieve more then they are right now. The pro 12 are the same its not the fact that they have bad players playing for both the Italian teams they just dont have the right structure in my opinion or the right coach.

Scotland also only have 2 teams in the pro 12, But what is making us better then the 2 Italian teams is that each of the players in the 2 Scotland teams are also contracted to the local teams in the main Scottish league (so teams like Ayr, Melrose, Heriots etc.) So players who aren't selected for the pro 12 teams can drop to those teams listed and play for them. So they are atleast still playing rugby so if they are needed to play for Edinburgh or Glasgow they are ready. If Italy can adopt a system like that they will have some more good players coming through to play and will improve Zebre and Treviso

If the rumors are correct and Connor O'Shea does go there, he will improve the overall structure of Itslian rugby unless he as to deal with restrictive politics like French rugby!!

 

[dragos03]

The Italian league is extremely weak. In the Challenge Cup qualifiers, their clubs lost not only to the Romanian champions Timisoara Saracens (who won 45-13 against Rovigo who were on top of the Eccelenza at that moment), but also to Spanish and German clubs.

Not sure what can be done to improve the local league. The biggest issue seems to be that rugby is only popular in some small towns and it doesn't exist in the big ones. I was in Milano two years ago during the Rugby Championship and couldn't find a single pub where to watch NZ vs Australia (I've been able to watch rugby while on holiday in unlikely places like Istanbul, Thassos or Varna but not in Milan!). The Italian union should establish Eccelenza clubs in the big wealthy cities like Milan and Turin, even if they have to fund them with union money initially.

As for a benefits of a professional league, I think the Romanian Superliga (even if it's small and very unstable) has saved our rugby from total collapse and allowed it to grow again.

 

[Tony Manx]

The Italian league is extremely weak. In the Challenge Cup qualifiers, their clubs lost not only to the Romanian champions Timisoara Saracens (who won 45-13 against Rovigo who were on top of the Eccelenza at that moment), but also to Spanish and German clubs.

Not sure what can be done to improve the local league. The biggest issue seems to be that rugby is only popular in some small towns and it doesn't exist in the big ones. I was in Milano two years ago during the Rugby Championship and couldn't find a single pub where to watch NZ vs Australia (I've been able to watch rugby while on holiday in unlikely places like Istanbul, Thassos or Varna but not in Milan!). The Italian union should establish Eccelenza clubs in the big wealthy cities like Milan and Turin, even if they have to fund them with union money initially.

As for a benefits of a professional league, I think the Romanian Superliga (even if it's small and very unstable) has saved our rugby from total collapse and allowed it to grow again.

Would be interest to know if the Italians fielded their best teams in the Challenge Cup or copied the French and English and played mostly their reserves?

 

[dragos03]

They fielded their best teams in all games (foreign players included), except the one Mogliano lost against Heidelberger RK (Mogliano was already out of the qualification battle at that point). Basically the Italians only won against each other and against Royal Kituro (amateurs from Belgium) and Direito (Portugal).

 

[Tony Manx]

Then there is definitely "something rotten in the state of Denmark" or indeed Italy!!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

More joyous rumours.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Ian McKinley in line for his first cap (in part due to the injury of his teammate Tommaso Allan). A nice development for a player who hasn't always had the easiest of times.

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/oshea-names-italy-squad-for-november-tests/

Unsurprising to see some of the exciting young Zebre talent getting a call up (Bellini and Minozzi particularly exciting). Some real quality here and I think two wins out of three vs Fiji, Pumas and Boks must be the difficult, but not unachievble target.