Brendan Gallagher on Italy and Scotland’s summer scrutiny

Most eyes will inevitably be looking south this summer with England, Wales and Ireland going head to head with the Southern Hemisphere giants in a bonanza of top quality Test rugby but if RWC2015 taught us nothing else it is that there is now a host of good, in fact excellent, and relevant rugby to be enjoyed elsewhere.
For some – notably Italy – this is the summer when the rebuilding process must start in earnest after years of under achievement while for Georgia it's time to spread their wings and see just how much they still have to learn and just how high up the world rankings they can climb.
Others, such as Japan and Scotland, need to build on the good impression they made at RWC2015 while all of the Pacific Islands need to expunge the memory of their flawed World Cup campaigns when they contest the triangular Pacific Nations Cup With Italy it would be totally unrealistic to expect new coach Conor O'Shea to work miracles immediately. The players available for their tour of the Americas are essentially those who fell away so disappointingly towards the end of the Six Nations, in fact on paper they are even weaker because after 14 seasons of continuous Test rugby the talismanic Sergio Parisse, now 32, is going to put his feet up and recharge his batteries in the hope that he might yet make it through to 2019.
There could be some strong pointers however. Scrum-half Edorado Gori, the gamest of warriors and an Italian player second only to Parisse in the esteem he is held by other nations, has been made captain while O'Shea has made it quite clear from the off that Italy must be much fitter.
There were deeply worrying signs last season that Italy were falling back into old habits and fading drastically in the final half hour of matches and O'Shea is not prepared to tolerate that. Indeed one player – Treviso prop Matteo Zanusso – who was originally selected for the tour has already been told to stay at home and get himself fit.
“Not everyone, but some players, to me, don't look fit enough to play at the highest level and they will cost the group,” insists O'Shea. “It doesn't matter about your technical ability. If you're not fit enough you will die on the pitch in the last 30 minutes.”
So despite a long season the Italian players can expect to be worked very hard this summer. A culture dedicated to fitness needs to be ingrained from the start while another area O'Shea can address immediately is getting some organisation and purpose into what could be a decent back division.
Italy weren't helped by injuries towards the end of the Six Nations but there is no doubt that Gori and Carlo Canna is potentially a half-back pairing to take them forward. Canna has a little bit of X-factor but isn't the finished article and needs a prolonged run.
If the half-backs could really click we might see the gifted Michele Campagnaro to better effect and in the continued injury absence of the talented Luca Morisi there is a strong argument for switching the powerful Tommaso Allan to centre where his experience as a Test No.10 could take some of the playmaking pressure off Canna.
There is strike power in the back three as well with Leonardo Sarto and David Odiete often showing some classy moments in adversity but all concerned need to be more industrious for the full 80 minutes which ties in with O'Shea's main observation about fitness levels.
Perversely, their pack, once Italy's pride and joy, is now their major weakness with nobody really coming through to replace the old warriors. The bulk, attitude and scrummaging power seems to have melted away and given that you really fear for them first up against the Pumas in Santa Fe on Saturday. They will do well to escape a hiding there Leonardo Ghiraldini and the excellent Josh Furno are absent as well as Parisse so Italy badly need some forwards to step up. The veteran Quintin Geldenhuys is fully fit again which will help, Marco Fuser has something about him but the key could be Simone Favaro right, voted the player of the year at Glasgow Warriors this last season and one of the best flankers in the Pro12.
If Italy can play at a faster tempo than in recent seasons and bring their backs into play more this dynamic flanker will flourish just as he does when Glasgow are at their expansive best.
It's a huge ask given Italy's traditional reluctance to move away from their set-piece and mauling powerbase but that foundation no longer exists and O'Shea, inset below, needs to think outside of the box. He now has a short honeymoon period to try whatever he wants.
“We need to create a successful environment that they want to be part of. I want the team to make the fans proud. Italian people are characterised by passion and emotion and I want my players to deliver that to them. I played against a fantastic Italy side in the Nineties, and I think with the right mentality, we can be even better than that team. I want this to be the best Italian team ever.”
Scotland, meanwhile, face a tricky trip to Japan where they will be expected to win but the potential to lose is considerable. With the exception of Mark Bennett, who is attempting to gain selection for the Great Britain Sevens squad in Rio, the Scots will be at full strength, although there have been a couple of enforced changes since coach Vern Cotter announced the tour party last month.
Matt Scott had come in for Alex Dunbar while Sean Lamont, now 35, wasn't originally included but an injury to Tim Visser sees the veteran wing return. At the other end of age scale, utility back Huw Jones, 22, replaces Finn Russell who sustained a head injury playing for Glasgow Warriors in their Pro12 semi-final against Connacht.
Jones is an interesting individual. Educated at Millfield, where he was mainly a 2nd XV scrum-half although there were occasional 1st XV appearances, his rugby career took off during a gap year in South Africa, so much so that he decided to switch University courses to Cape Town for whom he scored a try in the 2014 Varsity Cup final. In no time at all he graduated to the Western Province U21 and Vodacom Cup teams before being offered a Stormers contract last season.
“I didn't go out to South Africa with the intention of becoming a professional rugby player,” says Jones but, as my career progressed, it become more of a realistic goal to play for Scotland. The call came as a bit of a surprise but I'm thrilled and can't wait to get to Edinburgh next month and play my part in an exciting squad.”
The tour is coming off a curate's egg of a season for Scotland and Cotter is looking from more consistency in their play. Good, sometimes, very good in the World Cup but patchy in the Six Nations when there were a number of outstanding individual contributions but few team performances the team can look back on with much satisfaction.
“We weren't very happy with the last game we played against Ireland in the Six Nations, we didn't play well, so this gives us an opportunity to assess that and get over to Japan,” says Cotter. “We know it is going to be tough but it is important. We are not contenders for anything. We know where we are and we have a lot of work to do to become a top team.
“We're a good team but we are not a top team yet, so we need to work through why not. The Irish game is a classic example of it. We have some habits we need to iron out and develop better ones.”
Japan have a number of high profile absentees but still include 16 of their World Cup squad. Captain Michael Leitch and star full-back Ayumu Goromaru are both injured while speedster Akihito Yamada has put his hand up for inclusion in Japan's Sevens squad for Rio.
Promising centre Hosea Saumaki will also be unavailable on eligibility grouds after an appearance for Tonga at the Gold Coast Sevens in 2012 was uncovered. Japan intended to appeal the decision but whatever the outcome it will be too late for the Scotland Tests.
Interim coach Mark Hammett still has plenty to work with 15 players from the Sunwolves Super Rugby franchise available and four of Japan's overseas Super Rugby players – Hendrik Tui, Fumiaki Tanaka, Male Sa'u and Kotaro Matsushima – all included, as is star No.8 Amanaki Mafi after his spell with Bath.
In Bucharest the World Rugby Nations Cup is staged again as it begins to establish its niche and date in the calendar. Georgia will be missing this year – heading for the Pacific – but the tournament provides an interesting pot pourri. Hosts Romania, Uruguay and Namibia will all be looking to kick on after the World Cup while Argentina send a second string, as do Italy.
From this distance you would tip Romania to provide the most testing opposition to the Argentina XV but perhaps the team with most to gain is Spain who are showing distinct signs of improvement and they get their act together. The Spanish club scene is beginning to flourish a little and at international level they have picked up a number of dual-qualified Basques playing a good standard of rugby over the border in France.