Mallett primed for another difficult campaign
Nick Mallett embarks on his fourth RBS 6 Nations campaign as coach of Italy looking for continued progress from his players.
Coming off last season’s tournament in which the Azzurri suffered four defeats from five games, the South African has just two victories in his three Six Nations tournaments with the Italians.
Mallett expects another challenging campaign for his team.
“Each year for us it’s difficult,” Mallett said.
“The Six Nations is a complicated tournament and it is not an issue to do with the calendar.”
Italy begin the campaign at home to Ireland on Saturday before travelling to Twickenham to face England seven days later.
The Azzurri will then host Wales and France at the Stadio Flaminio and end the tournament against Scotland at Murrayfield on March 19.
“We simply have to continue to improve,” Mallett said.
“We will of course go out on the pitch trying to win all of our games.
“Our front row is among the strongest in the world with props like (Martin) Castrogiovanni, (Salvatore) Perugini and (Andrea) Lo Cicero.
“Also we are very strong in our third line and it will be interesting to see how (Treviso scrum-half Edoardo) Gori will do in the tournament.”
The 20-year-old Gori has earned two caps for Italy.
“In our autumn Test games back in November we showed progress and we want to continue to grow as a team,” Mallett said.
The Azzurri suffered a home defeat to Australia in the autumn having previously pushed Argentina close in Verona before slipping to a 22-16 defeat.
“Despite the defeat to Argentina, I believe there were many positives to take from that performance,” Mallett said. “Against the Pumas we played better than they did but we lost.
“Against Australia, we played a good game and our second half against Fiji was very positive.
“With regards to the overall performance of my players, I was satisfied.”
To make Italy’s task all the more complicated, they will be without the injured Mauro Bergamasco and Craig Gower.
Experienced flanker Bergamasco is out with a shoulder problem while fly-half Gower ruptured his knee ligaments back in November.
“Gower and Mauro are two players that have great experience,” Mallett said.
“But their absences open up a possibility to see new players at a high level.
“In our third line, (Robert) Barbieri did very well in November, just as (Paul) Derbyshire did, while (Luciano) Orquera handed two good performances against Australia and Fiji and I believe it is right to see (Kristopher) Burton, who right now is the Italian fly-half that is playing best in the Magners League.”
