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Italy focused on keeping confident as they eye a quarter final spot
By Matt Merritt
Inconsistency cost Italy the chance to take home any points against Canada, but with one group stage game still to be played they look set to proceed into the quarter finals.
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Italy head coach Andrea Di Giandomenico, speaking after the game, highlighted some key work-ons for his team. “We started well with a try in the first minute but were not consistent in our performance. Canada came back at us and in the scrum in the second half for us was a challenge, we could have managed possession better to finalize better in the first half. That’s something to work at for the next game. It was a lot of pressure physically and tactically form Canada. It was a disappointing result but we showed a good performance in some areas so we can work on these small things. Canadas’s maul was a bit frustrating for us but that’s the game. We all played the same game and followed our own philosophy. We will have a conservation between ourselves but what happens on the pitch is down to the pitch.”
“I think we used space well and we have some great players who know how to run and use space.” Di Giondomenico added, focusing on the positives of the Azzuri performance. “After today we will examine this and take it forward. Behind the defence we need more support and more efficiency so we know this, we were good against USA but not today but I think now it’s important to stay positive and move forward. Scoring a try right at the end will give us a boost into next week. Every point is important, and many matches are very close so we need to maintain our confidence until the end.”
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Flanker Giada Franco was clear on what gave Canada the edge. “Their driving mauls were very good and despite us being able to defend well against USA’s driving mauls last week they were just too good. I think we were a bit late in the defence there and they ended up taking the momentum so we will look at this and see how we can improve for next week. This is the Rugby World Cup so we can’t leave the job unfinished. If we can see an opportunity to make a break and we have good speed, we need to use it and we need to score as much as we can. Last week we took all our chances and this week we didn’t. If we had scored before half time again it would have been a totally different outcome.”
One think Di Ginadomenico will be able to take heart from is the reaction of his players. The Italian team are working hard to improve and as centre Michela Sillari makes clear, they have no intention of resting on their laurels. “We are not happy with the result. We need to keep improving and we lost of lot of ball during the match so we need to focus on that. We finished high with scoring the try, so we will work on it from here. Coming into the second half we thought the wind was better for us because we played against it in the first half, but it calmed down so we were unlucky. We need to win next week against Japan. We need to start thinking about it from now on. We don’t need to think about today anymore and just focus on the next.”
It’s an attitude that Franco echoes, focusing on their next opposition: Japan. “That final try may have given us some fire towards the quarter finals because we know that every point counts. Next week we will take on Japan, we were watching them yesterday and we know we have to come out strong against them.”
A win next week will see them into the quarter finals. “If we can make it to the quarter finals next week, we’ll be the first Italian side to do so at a rugby world cup and we know we are here to do something special for this team.” Their head coach said post match. “It’s been a long time I have been with this team and we have a long history and a story we want to show. The girls are fantastic and they enjoy to play and train. It’s important for us that we make our mark here and go forward as much as possible.”
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Italy will no doubt have their lucky charm in attendance too, Giada Franco’s mother has become something of a social media sensation with her support for the Azzuri. “I’m so happy to see my mum here. I’m a bit embarrassed at time to be honest with you but I am really happy she’s here because her support means a lot to me. I know I couldn’t make her happy today but we will work on this and I hope next time things will be better.”
