ITALIAN COACH Nick Mallett has a major concern before finalising his team tomorrow for Saturday’s Six Nations opener, with first-choice outhalf Craig Gower recovering from the bruised quadriceps he sustained while playing at centre for Bayonne in their Basque derby win over Biarritz last Thursday.
Were Gower ruled out, then Mallett will most likely have to afford a debut to Rovigio’s Riccardo Bocchino, who, at 21, is particularly young by Italian standards. Bocchino was Italy A’s outhalf in November, against full Romanian and Georgian sides (when the Italians won both matches and Bocchino played well), but he is very inexperienced at the representative level.
The expectation remains that the Australian-born rugby league convert Gower, who spoke no Italian when breaking into the Italian team last November, should be fit for his Six Nations debut.
Mallett also has a couple of other tricky decisions, at left wing, between Kaine Robertson and Andrew Masi, and in the secondrow between Marco Bortolami and Carlo del Fava.
But the team is liable to look something like: McLean; Mirco Bergamasco, Canale, Garcia, Masi; Gower, Tebaldi; Zanni, Mauro Bergamasco, Sole; Geldenhuys, Bortolami; Castrogiovanni, Ghiraldini, Perugini.
Recalling Mallett’s days coaching the Springboks and Stade Francais, Declan Kidney yesterday admitted: “I’ve always admired him because they have always played for one another, the way the teams go about their business. I like the subtleties and the way they’re improving, and the pressures they’ll be putting on us in the way that we feel they might play on Saturday.”
ITALY SQUAD:Forwards: M Aguero (Saracens), M Bergamasco (Stade Français), M Bortolami (Gloucester), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), L Cittadini (Treviso), CA Del Fava (Viadana), Q Geldenhuys (Viadana), L Ghiraldini (Treviso), F Minto (Parma), F Ongaro (Saracens), S Perugini (Bayonne), J Sole (Viadana), A Zanni (Treviso). Backs: M Bergamasco (Stade Français), R Bocchino (Rovigo), G Canale (Clermont), G Garcia (Treviso), C Gower (Bayonne), A Masi (Racing Metro), L McLean (Treviso), S Picone (Treviso), K Robertson (Viadana), A Sgarbi (Treviso), T Tebaldi (Gran Parma).
