Miracle worker Capuozzo can make difference

Coach: Kieran Crowley

Captain: Michele Lamaro

Resurgent Italy may have landed the toughest of groups but they have nothing to lose in France and everything to gain.

Of course nobody, except the Italian squad themselves, is expecting a win over France or the All Blacks but rest assured neither will be taking the Azzurri lightly. Michele Lamaro's team can get hot for spells during games and if they ever put an 80-minute performance together they could take one of those powerhouse nations deep into the game.

The feel-good factor surrounding Italy is, to be frank, more a result of the exciting way they are now playing rather than results per se although a big win over a strong Samoa last autumn and a famous victory over Australia the following week are not to be sniffed at. A few months later they were whitewashed in the Six Nations but had their moments in all five games and played particularly well at home to France and Ireland.

Italy are now contesting games with the very best. Everybody can see the improvement in skills, fitness and attacking intent, but now we need to see cool heads and correct decision making when it counts.

The sea change has been well documented. A canny attack minded Kiwi coach in Kieran Crowley who knows the Italian game backwards after a long spell at Benetton; a raft of young players from their strong U20s of the last four or five years pressing for inclusion and raising the standard generally and the timely arrival of a world class talent in the form of dashing young full-back Ange Capuozzo.

If you have a miracle worker on your side all dreams are permissible, and everybody raises their game. Ireland improved markedly from 1999 onwards because they had a young world beater in their ranks in Brian O'Driscoll. The overall galvanising effect is almost more than the actual contribution of the superstar concerned. Others have risen to the challenge. The sadly injured Tommaso Menoncello is just as big a prospect as Capuozzo but a bicep injury has done for him while with the return of Monty Ioane from Australia and the likes of Paolo Odogwu and Pierre Bruno on the other wing, Italy have some serious firepower out wide. Brex has developed apace at centre, the versatile Tommaso Allen can play anywhere and after an injury haunted season in 2022-23 Paolo Garbisi is beginning to fire again although still not at his best.

Italy need to get their selection at scrum-half correct. They have talent but no obvious automatic first choice although Stephen Varney always seems to enjoy the confidence of Crowley. Alessandro Garbisi is onthe up, former Toulouse man Martin Page-Relo is a valuable recruit and Andrea Fusco possibly has the tidiest service. To these eye Page-Relo ticks most boxes.

Up front Italy tend to rely heavily on the tried and tested Benetton back five with the Cannone brothers – Niccolò and Lorenzo – giving them real heft, Federico Ruzza offers world class lineout skills, Lamaro is a proper mongrel of a seven and Seb Negri a powerful carrier. What a shame that a long struggle with knee injuries continues to keep Jake Polledri sidelined. Meanwhile athletic Quins lock Dino Lamb, another with Italian heritage finally persuaded to join the cause, has already made a good impression and should come into contention for the big matches while Giovanni Petinelli is hugely underrated and never lets anybody down.

First choice props Marco Riccioni and Danilo Fischetti are top class but Riccioni is struggling with a knee niggle and there is a drop off in quality if one of them gets injured.

The draw falls nicely for Italy and while assuming nothing against Namibia and Uruguay they really should be coming off the back of two wins in Lyon before they throw the kitchen sink at New Zealand and France. Save for the injury to Menoncello and that concern over

Riccioni, preparations have gone well with decent displays in Scotland and Ireland, a big home win over Romania and an impressive win over Japan. Italy have never advanced to the quarter-finals which is a stain on their record – Samoa, Japan and Fiji have all managed that – this is possibly not the year it will happen but expect more concrete evidence of their improvement.