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Facing Goliath - A documentary following Italy as they take on the mighty All Blacks

Facing Goliath is the monumental journey of the Italian rugby team as they prepare to take on New Zealand, one of the greatest rugby teams of all time.

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RugbyPass was granted exclusive access to follow the Azzurri as they embarked on a new season under the watchful eye of their new coach Kieran Crowley.

RugbyPass went behind the scenes with the Italian rugby team as they prepare for a clash with the All Blacks at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the Azzurri have entered a new era in their history.

We look at the challenges facing this new, young side as they look for a fresh start under the former Kiwis selector.

Narrated by Jim Hamilton…

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Comments

1 Comment
s
steve 1301 days ago

Great insider's view. Crowley is a great coach. He was instrumental in building a competitive and credible Canadian team. We in Canada miss him and wish him and the Azzuri well

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Comments on RugbyPass

S
SB 31 minutes ago
'It might be time to start believing in these Wallabies'

Still lots of water to flow under the bridge. Obviously hoping the Springboks can do the three-peat, but I suspect France might a spanner or two to throw in the works. That's IF the clubs allow their best players to tour!

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J
Jon 41 minutes ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

Haha…sooo you are saying No Easy Fix in The Land of my Fathers! Let’s see what the WRU powerbrokers can come up with.

15 Go to comments
B
B 46 minutes ago
Jake White: The All Blacks aura has disappeared, they should be worried

The simple solution for the AB’s to keep their “aura” intact is playing with a full team of 15 players for the entire duration of the game…

All for one…focused on team synergy and discipline…Go the AB’s…



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M
Mzilikazi 48 minutes ago
The Wallabies must take to the skies to declaw Los Pumas

Those games were vicious Nick, Irish boys came off second best generally.

“How could they stop the Gaelic boys even watching another sport though?” No, I can’t see how that could ever be enforced. But on that topic, I did a bit of reading around the ban, and found this: “Douglas Hyde, GAA patron and then President of Ireland, was expelled for attending a soccer international”. That was around 1938. And also read that Moss Keane played his early games under the name “Moss Fenton”



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79 Go to comments
N
NB 1 hour ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

It’s one thing they do well in the Top 14 and the Womens World Cup venues have also been well-chosen to fit the expected attendance levels.

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N
NB 1 hour ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

One of the ideas mooted around 2003 was to build a new stadium in Cwmbran to house the Dragons and help create that new identity. Something that wasn’t Rodney Parade.

If you think back to 2003 the region with the strongest sense of identity was the Celtic Warriors. It started as an uneasy, amorphous mix of Bridgend and Pontypridd from two diff valleys and they bounced between the Brewery Field and Sardis Road, but it worked in terms of creating a base of support because it wasn’t one of the big four.



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G
GermanFilipinoIndoSan 1 hour ago
‘The danger now for the All Blacks is that ill-discipline is endemic and there is no easy fix’

Thank goodness Jamie Joseph is nowhere near coaching the All Blacks because Scott Robertson is objectively the better coach.

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O
Otagoman II 1 hour ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

Wellington has moved out of the caketin, Auckland has played the odd game away from Eden Park but Otago is stuck under the roof, moving next door to the University Oval would be good but there is a cricket wicket there and you lose the roof.

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H
Hammer Head 1 hour ago
‘The danger now for the All Blacks is that ill-discipline is endemic and there is no easy fix’

Explain how it is not going well for the boks?

I’d argue it’s going better than for the ABs.



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87 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 1 hour ago
‘The danger now for the All Blacks is that ill-discipline is endemic and there is no easy fix’

And it’s not a quick fix. Why doesn’t NZ have a referee in their coaching setup?

87 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 1 hour ago
‘The danger now for the All Blacks is that ill-discipline is endemic and there is no easy fix’

Yes I mentioned that in another comment. The ABs have cut and paste the Irish around the breakdowns. And the Boks on the blitz defence.

I don’t know who they’re copying in the backline but from some of the kiwi comments going around - half their backline “can’t pass a rugby ball” - I can only think they’re copying a rugby team from a local school for the blind.



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87 Go to comments
N
NB 1 hour ago
The Wallabies must take to the skies to declaw Los Pumas

‘Merlin the Magician couldn’t have done it any better’ as the great Bill McLaren once said.

79 Go to comments
N
NB 1 hour ago
The Wallabies must take to the skies to declaw Los Pumas

Yep good point about KLA and Kolbe, but I take issue with your idea that JAS is slow. He ran away from the SA backfield for that intercept try, no problem.

And if you put him up against Kolbe, KLA, Toole or Jorgo in a straight jumping contest for the ball, he’d win it hands down.



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79 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 1 hour ago
‘The danger now for the All Blacks is that ill-discipline is endemic and there is no easy fix’



Jamie Joseph coaching Japan with Tony Brown as assistant coach is international experience?

What would you call it?



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87 Go to comments
J
Jon 1 hour ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

Nick, are you saying No Fixed Abode? 22 years ago it would have worked much better if they simply made Newport, Cardiff, Llanelli and Swansea Super Clubs and built a larger loyal fan base. Branding and marketing is going to be critical and I would have thought that some sort of home base would be important although the idea of playing a number of games at other venues could also be an interesting way to align the clubs and supporter base.

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N
NB 1 hour ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

You would think it’d pique interest wouldn’t you. I think playing at more compact stadia helps. Young kids love to get close to the players and they can’t do it at a lot of the bigger venues.

15 Go to comments
N
NB 1 hour ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

Yes they would need a strong sense of connection between the two regions and the Champ level below, just not with Cardiff playing as Cardiff and the Blues, Llanelli as Llanelli and Scarlets etc. The identities have to be unique for it to work.

I’ve been to some Ospreys games and the atmosphere is pretty dead compared to what the Gnoll or even St. Helens used to be like. Stadium holds 23k and there’s only 6 or 7k there!



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Anendra Singh 1 hour ago
Defeat doesn’t halt All Blacks’ upward trend in the ‘metrics that matter’

The buck stops with Razor. Players picking up cards suggests it's more than an individual issue.

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N
NB 1 hour ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

Sure the Union has been flaccid at best. But usually it gets accused of sitting on its hands and not doing anything. At least now they look primed to make a bold decision, and with an Englishman as DoR.

I remember saying at the time the Welsh regions would become farm teams for other leagues and that is how it is turning out. The start point to stop that happening is to create teams with real chance of winning something - that is what players and coaches play for, not just a career adrift in the mid or bottom tier.



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N
NB 1 hour ago
Why a two-team system represents 'solid realism' for Welsh rugby

The difficulty will be that it’s much harder to do it now than it would have been 22 years ago. Ppl will lose their jobs, infrastructure knock-on, development pathways etc. in the process.

Again I think it’s important for the two regions not to be seen as bigger versions of Cardiff/Newport and Swansea/Llanelli, or else you’ll get the same problem as before…



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15 Go to comments