Tommaso Allan agrees his Italian side will have a tough job to get out of Pool A in the Rugby World Cup but is “quietly confident” the Azzurri can produce an upset against one of France or New Zealand.
Hosts France and Rugby Championship winners New Zealand are the top two favourites to win the competition, with Italy given a 66/1 chance to top the pool containing them both.
But Allan sees an opening with the Italians starting with the two easiest games in the pool and Les Bleus and the All Blacks facing off in the first game of the World Cup, with the loser of the tournament opener likely to be under pressure for the rest of the pool stage.
“Of course it's not easy,” he admitted, speaking on The Rugby Paper Podcast. “But none of the groups are. Look at Scotland's group as well, it's a very tough group.
“Our first two matches are equally as important against Namibia and Uruguay. Our main target is just to finish those two games off, get some good results in them and then build some momentum leading up to the second two games.
“France and New Zealand play each other first and that will change a lot as well, with a lot of extra pressure for who loses that. Anything can happen off the back of that.
“We ran France close in the Six Nations, we were probably unlucky not to get the win there. So we know we can front up against the best teams and we're quietly confident, but we just need to get those first two games out the way first and then we can focus on those ones.”
As mentioned by the Azzurri fly-half, Italy open their campaign against Namibia in round one before they play Uruguay, and go on to the two crunch matches.
Although Allan is hopeful the two games will help them build momentum, he is also wary of the threat Uruguay in particular hold – with Italy only beating them 17-10 in their last meeting in 2021 – and mindful of the rare challenge of carrying a favourites tag into the game.
“Luckily now there's no five-day turnarounds anymore in the World Cup,” he added. “Everything is a seven-day turnaround at least so we can field our best team up against Namibia and Uruguay.
“It will suit us to have them first. If we do beat them and play some good, convincing rugby it will give us more confidence to then come up against New Zealand and France.
“It's a good build up into those two games, but we are not taking the other games lightly at all. We were run close against Uruguay three years ago in Italy and they beat Fiji in the last World Cup so we know they're not going to be an easy side to play against.
“They're going to be tough, they're going to be up for it. You have to think that Namibia and Uruguay will target us as the upset game, so they'll put everything they can into a game against us.
“We're not used to being favourites either in international rugby so it just depends on how the boys react to that as well, it will be a different challenge.”
Allan started yesterday's World Cup warm-up defeat against Scotland at fly-half, as he did for the aforementioned 29-24 defeat to France in round one of the Six Nations and loss at Twickenham the following week.
Paolo Garbisi (below) came back into the side following that game, with Allan first put on the bench and then moved to full back.
Despite having adapted well to playing different positions for both Italy and his club last season, Harlequins, Allan is in no doubt he wants to be Italy's fly-half for the World Cup.
“I'm a fly-half, if I have to play 15 I'll play but it's not really my focus. I'm pushing to start at 10,” he declared.
“Competition is good obviously, and you need it at international level because if you don't have competition there's something wrong with the depth of the squad.
“So I'm happy about the competition but I do feel like I can be starting for Italy as well. If that doesn't happen we'll see what Kieran [Crowley, head coach of Italy] wants to do.
“But I'd love to start for Italy, whether it be 10, 12 or 15. Hopefully 10.”
With ambition to start in his favoured position for his country Allan wants to replicate the same situation in his club, and he conceded that being stuck behind Marcus Smith was a major contributing factor in his decision to move on from Harlequins despite enjoying the overall experience.
As he prepares for a second spell with Perpignan, where he played between 2013 and 2016, he is looking forward to returning to the Top 14 and the moving the Catalan club up the table after they survived a relegation play-off last term.
“Obviously I owe a lot to Quins,” he continued. “They took me in when it was quite a tough period for me personally, they gave me a new love for rugby.
“When I came in it was a new environment with new coaches and playing staff and I truly loved it. It was awesome, it's been a good two years with them.
“But I felt like I wanted to go back into French rugby. I wanted to start more matches as well and having Marcus in front of me has always been a bit tough.
“I always pushed myself, I always pushed him, but he's also a great player and fair enough that he starts all the games for them. He's a superstar.
“So I wanted to go back and start the important games, and play more regularly. From a lifestyle point of view as well, it doesn't get much better than playing in the South of France.
“The team they've recruited for next season looks a very, very good team as well, so I think we can do something interesting and created a few shocks.”
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