2023-10-03 16:43:29
How do you recover from one of your worst humiliations to tackle, seven days later, one of your greatest challenges? The Italians are faced with this almost insolvent equation, before this “round of 16” of the disguised World Cup against France, this Friday evening in Lyon (9 p.m.). “You don’t have time to think about it,” immediately warns David Sisi, second row absent from the group during the monumental rout against the All Blacks (17-96). “What happened against New Zealand is over, we no longer think about it,” he says.
It is indeed better not to dwell on this collective slump during which the Italians resigned very early. The Nazionale now has its eyes fixed on the last decisive match in Group A of this World Cup. “It’s an important match, there’s no doubt about it, but it’s still a match,” says prop Federico Zani. We don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves. (…) We will see what happens. » To say that the Transalpines have nothing to lose is an understatement: they have never reached the quarter-finals of a World Cup in nine editions, and even the most pious of them did not dare to pray for a qualification before the competition, with regard to the opponents.
Without a victory in France since 1997
Italy also remains on 13 defeats in a row against the Blues (last victory in 2013) and, worse, has only beaten France once on its soil. History records that this feat occurred in Grenoble, not far from this OL Stadium where its future will be decided. But it was in 1997 (40-32 victory), at a period when the Isère products Ange Capuozzo (24 years old) and Louis Bielle-Biarrey (20 years old), likely players in this duel, had not yet seen the light of day .
Even if, since then, Italy has almost systematically lost against France, it at least has the right to face it every year. “We are a little more familiar with their style of play, which makes our task easier when preparing,” recognizes three-quarter center Paolo Odogwu. We know what to expect, we know what they are going to bring into play and we know how we are going to try to counter them. »
The latest opposition in the Tournament showed that the Italians knew how to annoy the Blues, difficult winners 29-24. In a very different context, the Italians had a match point in the French 5m to break the series of invincibility of Fabien Galthié’s men (14 victories), a privilege left to Ireland a week later.
“I know what the group has in its stomach, the cohesion is strong between us and we have what it takes to overcome this difficulty,” swears Federico Zani. “But we must not make small mistakes like against the All Blacks, otherwise France will punish us with the same power and the same intensity,” calms assistant coach Andrea Moretti. As long as hope exists, Italians cling to it as best they can.
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