Italian squad announced by Nick Mallett – RBS Six Nations update
Luciano Orquera, the Italian fly half will be paying a price for demonstrating a weak performance against England at defensive units. Meanwhile, Nick Mallett has made a few changes to the squad, for clash against Wales in RBS Six Nations. A total of three
changes by Mallett show his confidence in the forwards, but backline needed consideration.
Orquera has been dropped to bench and sidelined for the next few matches, depending on requirement. On the other hand, Kris Burton has been restored to his position for coming fixture, while Santiago Dellape and Robert Barbieri have been called in for Carlo
Del Fava and Valerio Bernabo.
After the last week’s clash, Nick Mallett had to reconsider a few strategies and the not-so-defensive game play. Italian lineout falling apart resulted into Manoa Vosowai to be called on bench as a replacement for his first appearance, while Del Fava will
be missing out the tournament altogether.
Italy conceded a total of eight unstoppable tries as Nick Mallett’s side was hammered by 59-13 at Twickenham against England. Mallett showed his reservations regarding Orquera’s performance and was reluctant to risk his defensive presence against the huge
and vigilant Jamie Roberts for the Saturday’s clash.
Mallett said, “Three of the tries we conceded came unswervingly from neglected tackles by Orquera. We had to look at the fly-half position because Wales are going to throw giants like Roberts down the ten-channel.”
Talking about his fears against Wales and their assumed strategies, he said, “Wales are going to try to play a fast game to try to imitate the strategy with which England played so it’s really imperative we get our guards right.”
Mallett believes that Italy’s lineout issues have been significant recently and they come due to various reasons. Instead of bringing in the lineout, Mallett even tried to send Sergio Parisse in the second row/backline, but it couldn’t be implemented and
Italian’s wall was broken to pieces.
Mallett admitted that they didn’t spend much time with the ball and couldn’t get hold of it once the English side had made it clear that they meant business. After the entrance of Fabio Ongaro and Santiago Dellape on the field, things did change a bit due
to Dellape’s good lineout calls.
Mallettee added, “Regrettably Fabio is wounded but Carlo Festuccia has been playing in good health for Racing Metro and has a lot of know-how so I have no worries about him being on the bench.”
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