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Italy men’s long running quest to progress from a Rugby World Cup pool stage appeared a step nearer following the pool draw for the Australia 2027.
While the Azzurri have been drawn in Pool B alongside the 2019 and 2023 champions South Africa, they will also face European rivals Georgia and Romania, two teams they have beaten recently.
Under former coach Kieran Crowley they visited both east European countries in July 2022. While they began with a 45-13 v Romania, a week later they went down 28-19 to Georgia in Tbilisi, a loss that reignited talk of relegation from the Guinness Men’s Six Nations, just after they had ended their loosing run in the tournament with their Ange Capuozzo-inspired win over Wales in Cardiff.
Italy beat Romania 57-7 in a 2023 World Cup warm-up and then squeezed by 20-17 when they took on Georgia in Genoa in November 2024, their only win of their autumn campaign. Much has been made of the potential forward battle, but Italy are a far-more rounded team these days, while Georgia have slipped from their peak of a few years ago and struggled against Japan’s pack recently.
This year alone, Italy have played South Africa three times and lost all three, a state of affairs that is unlikely to change anytime soon. The sides will meet again the in World Nations Cup, so they won’t be able to claim unfamiliarity.
“I know our players will not underestimate Romania,” head coach Gonzalo Quesada said. “They know how to prepare against Georgia because 99 percent of the players already played them in the last two games - two really tough battles. When you have these three challenges, there's not much room to think about what is next.
Generally, Italy do what Italy should. They finish where their world ranking dictates, where the data says they should finish.
In the Six Nations, as the fifth or sixth strongest team in the competition they usually finish fifth or sixth and it is the same at the Rugby World Cup. Since the expansion to four groups of five in 2003, they have been the third best team in the pool, and their finishes have reflected that. Good enough to qualify automatically for the next edition, but not good enough to reach the knockout rounds.
In 2003 they had New Zealand and Wales ranked higher and lost to both and went home. The same happened after being placed with the All Blacks and Scotland in 2007, Ireland and Australia in 2011, France and Ireland in 2015, New Zealand and South Africa (how many mirrors did then coach Conor O’Shea break?) in 2019, and finally France and New Zealand in 2023.
The closest they came was in 2007 when a late David Bortolussi penalty drifted wide of the posts and Scotland escaped with an 18-16 victory. At the end of the match, flanker Mauro Bergamasco stood in the middle of the huddle imploring his side to learn the lessons and ensure they reached the quarters in future tournaments.
It didn’t quite happen for him, nor the likes of Sergio Parisse, Andrea Masi or Martin Castrogiovanni, but at long last it may happen for the current generation.
“It will be three physical battles, three styles that are not that different,” Quesada said. “Everyone will arrive at the top of their level. Maybe there would have been other teams that it would have been easier to prepare for.
“It will get us even more excited that it's a super-tough pool. If people had said to me, 'oh you were lucky with the draw', I would not sleep for two years.”