Peter Jackson: Mauro Bergamasco debut ruined by England’s lucky break
The Italian's supreme longevity will be confirmed at Twickenham in three weeks' time when he extends his run on the global stage to 17 years, an
unprecedented period stretching all the way back to a qualifying tie in, of all places, Huddersfield, the cradle of Rugby League.
Bergamasco has been giving body and soul to an often losing national cause for so long that when he began, Richie McCaw was still at school and nobody outside Dublin had heard of Brian O'Driscoll. The only other 21st-century contender from the cast of the 20th, Ireland's Gordon D'Arcy, is unlikely to survive the weekend cull.
A fifth World Cup ensures that Bergamasco, at the age of 36, will eclipse the only other player to appear in that many tournaments, Brian Lima. The indestructible Samoan centre lasted as a Test player for 16 years.
Having kept going for 12 months longer, Bergamasco will overtake a whole host of famous names in the endurance stakes, including the regal Irish back Mike Gibson (1964-79), the Irish Lion Fergus Slattery (1969-84), Wales lock Gareth Llewellyn (1989-2004), his English counterpart Simon Shaw (1996-2011) and, most recently, O'Driscoll (1999-2014).
If he lives to be a hundred, Bergamasco will never understand why Italy were denied the biggest giant-killing of all at the very start of his marathon. In what amounted to a classic case of daylight robbery, an England team under the direction of a comparative novice in Clive Woodward got away with it thanks largely to a refereeing blunder.
The record book may state that England won 23-15 in Hudfdersfield in 1998, but it doesn't tell half the story.
Had justice been done that November day in the West Riding when Martin Johnson captained his country for the first time in the enforced absence of the Anglo-Italian, Lawrence Dallaglio, Italy would have won. Had the TMO been invented a decade earlier, Alessandro Troncon's close-range try would have been awarded. Instead of hanging on by a point, England would have been six down and running out of time.
Both Johnson and Woodward acknowledged that the referee, Didier Mene of France, got it wrong. England, according to their acting skipper, also got it wrong, in terms of their attitude to a ‘qualifying' fixture of little importance given that they had already qualified for the main event the following year.
They went “through the motions” and ought to have paid for it. “That attitude almost cost us the game,'' Johnson said in his autobiography. “The Azzurri put on a great show, fighting hard for the ball.
“They were denied a legitimate try when Troncon burrowed under to touch down with the referee unsighted. By the time the ref got into position, Richard Cockerill (England's hooker) had whipped the ball away and the ref couldn't give it.
“We had played dreadfully and it was one of the few times that we have received a genuine dressing-down from the management.''
A Will Greenwood solo try three minutes from time added insult to Italian injury. Their big chance had gone and when the teams met at Twickenham the following year at the start of the 1999 World Cup, a thumping 60-point win reflected a very different English attitude.
For the longest-lasting warrior of all, the big autumn event will bring him to the end of a very long road, one last hurrah before hanging up his boots the minute Italy are eliminated. Despite all the hard-luck stories, his Corinthian spirit still comes shining through.
“For me, rugby is first fun, then work,'' says Bergamasco. “It's always a passion, and always will be.''
He has not had much fun at Twickenham over the years, least of all when Nick Mallett, of all people, picked him at scrum-half against England with catastrophic consequences. Mallett, then Italy's head coach, at least had the good grace to admit that he had got it horribly wrong.
Bergamasco will be back at HQ on September 19 when Italy open their challenge against France followed by Ireland at the Olympic Stadium a fortnight later. Unless they cause a sensation by winning one of those matches, Mauro's fifth World Cup will end prematurely, just like the previous four.
If anything, that ought to ensure Bergamasco gets an even bigger ovation when he makes his last stand, probably against Romania at Exeter on October 11 – from West Riding to West Country in 17 years.
