Passionate Italians searching for own style

By CHRIS RATTUE

Vern Cotter knows a thing or two about Italian sporting passion.

The Bay of Plenty coach spent a season there - as a player coach for a third division team near Bologna - and remembers well some of the supporters' hysteria.

"All the Latin people have a great passion for whatever they do," says Cotter.

"I remember in a game at Rome, running out of a 50m tunnel that had been caged to keep the fans out.

"They do tend to work themselves into a fever. They'd make signals, running their finger across their throats - telling you what they were going to do if you won."

Cotter's Steamers get a rare international chance against the touring Italians tomorrow when they clash at the Rotorua International Stadium.

It will be an early test of how Bay of Plenty might shape up in this year's NPC first division, but in World Cup terms it may indicate how the John Kirwan-coached Italians will fare later this year.

Italy will be the All Blacks' opening World Cup opponents in group D, which also includes Wales, Tonga and Canada. Their form against Southland and Counties Manukau has hardly been encouraging.

Kirwan has played down their poor tour opening, saying the arduous travel schedule to New Zealand had left the players tired. And Kirwan is using the tour to work on team patterns, particularly defensive technique and structure.

But those factors do not fully account for an Italian side which was extremely poor against second division Counties Manukau. Had it not been for their dominance in the maul, the Italians would have lost Wednesday's match.

Cotter said the Italian game had improved vastly over the years, thanks largely to the influence of New Zealand, Australian and South African coaches and players such as Kirwan who have spent time in Italy.

"Italy have taken bits from other countries' games and I think they are still trying to develop a style of their own. They are great physical specimens. Big strong players and athletes. It's a matter of finding a style of game which suits them.

"Football is always the dominant sport in Italy and all the kids play soccer first before they might try rugby. It means they don't have that grassroots heritage in the game."

Kirwan's assistant, former All Black flanker Leicester Rutledge said they had yet to settle on their top combination. That is unlikely to happen until they face Waikato in their final tour game next weekend.

Kirwan and Rutledge want to give all 30 squad members a fair chance to claim places in that team and until then they will mix and match their squad.