Conor O’Shea winning new admirers in Italy

In the wake of Italy’s 20-18 win against South Africa in Florence on Saturday, the Azzurri coach, Irishman Conor O’Shea, and his squad inevitably earned themselves glowing reports in Italian sports media. Several commentators called this the most important ever win for an Italian rugby team while headline writers did not hold back.

“Italy Turns The Rugby World Upside Down”, went sports daily, Tuttosport, whilst Gazzetta Dello Sport carried a front page story which read: “Springboks KO. Italy Writes A Page Of Rugby History”. Rome daily, La Repubblica, led its sports section with “Incredible Italy...The South African Myth Has Been Overturned”.

Tuttosport conceded immediately that this is probably the worst Springboks side of the last 20 years, one that has lost seven of its last 11 games. Nonetheless, it continued, South Africa were still ranked fourth in the world behind the All Blacks, England and Australia going into the game, while only a year ago, they finished third in the World Cup, adding: “the idea of beating them seems like pure science fiction. And yet Italy have just beaten South Africa for the first time ever and that would lead you to conclude that, even if it is not possible to change the world, it is possible to change rugby.”

Coming just one week after the All Blacks had beaten Italy 10-68 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, this victory was certainly not widely expected. Head coach O'Shea earned plaudits for the overall fitness and preparation of the side, for the fact that he was willing to give first caps to two young players, Simone Ferrari and Nicola Quaglio and for a half-time talk that clearly did the job at a moment when Italy were trailing 12-10.

In the immediate aftermath of the game, Italy's iconic captain Sergio Parisse, who plays for Paris club Stade Francais, recalled his first meeting with the newly appointed Irish coach last June in Paris, saying: "Four months ago, just after he had been appointed, he came to Paris and he said to me, 'I want to beat the Springboks in November'. I believed that it could happen but it would have been disrespectful to go around saying 'we want to win' . . . In truth, though, given the negative period South Africa are going through, I knew there was a chance of the miracle.

“But you have got to come up with facts not words. This is the greatest result of Italian rugby history . . . and it’s a beginning”.

When he walked into the post-match press conference on Saturday, O’Shea was greeted with a round of applause. The clearly delighted coach admitted that he was largely at a loss for Italian words, saying: “I have never wanted to express myself in Italian as much as now but the words won’t come. All I want to say is that I am very happy for the players and for the fans. This is just a beginning but it is a very good beginning”