Lorenzo Calamai

Matt Faessler on the 3 Reds players that started the season at Benetton: "My understanding is that they're loving it, particularly the number 9, I think he's getting a bit of a cult following Louis [Werchon]."

In fact, supporters in Treviso just praying him to stay after just a couple of matches!

"Whether it's Capuozzo and Ioane on those wings with Tommaso Allan or Lynagh with Capuozzo, none of that sounds very attractive to me as a Wallaby defender. So we know we're going to have our hands full."

"They put a lot of pressure on the ball with guys like Lamaro, Cannone, Zuliani. Guys like Menoncello and Brex, they get through and get onto the ball or blast you off it. You've got Garbisi who can control the game really well."

.continues.

On Italy: "I'm not convinced Italy is the easier fixture of our lot. I've seen enough of these players: I was coaching with the All Blacks before we played them in the RWC. On that day nothing went right for them and it was a big score but we saw lots of threats in their team."

.continues.

"All in all, I felt gameline wise if it wasn't that rapid ball that the English got, I I felt that we got the gain line pretty well."

"That's one of the things that England got: 37% quick ball, but when they got it, it was very quick ball and it made it very hard to defend. Some of the time they slowed themselves down, set their caterpillar ruck up and went with the high kick, but there's no point in firing up if they're kicking"

On the Wallabies having little linespeed in defence: "We obviously want to get linespeed because every time you don't it's very hard to win the collision. If you concede the gain line, you're going to be worked backwards. But off very quick ball, it's very hard to get any linespeed."

.continues.

On O'Connor: "James could even be involved next week. Again, he's a little bit like Lenny: he played all the way through to the finals being in the Crusaders and then linked up with us. So just letting him get his family priorities right, giving him a bit of breathing space. Next week we'll see"

On the reason why Gordon is in at 10: "I think a big part of that is his confidence. He's worked really hard behind the scenes 'cause it's obviously a pivotal position. And so for us Carter has just gathered momentum through the last 2 weeks. I think it's important we build depth in that position"

On Ikitau: "It was something that was in play since he chose to do this sabbatical. He was going to come straight out of the Lions, straight out of TRC, straight into Exeter, playing. [Not selecting him is] to just give him some breathing space. It was something that was pre-aggreed with Rob Baxter"

Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt explained his choices for the Italy game today in the press conference at the team hotel in downtown Udine

He was asked about not selecting Len Ikitau, choosing Carter Gordon, and then why he did not call up James O'Connor

A thread with his major quotes 👇

Il Benetton ha iniziato la stagione in maniera altalenante, lasciando più dubbi che certezze nel primo blocco di partite giocate prima dei test match internazionali

È ancora la più forte delle squadre italiane?

open.substack.com/pub/rugbydro...

Il Munster ha battuto il Leinster per la prima volta dopo tre anni

Erano quindici anni che la squadra di Dublino non perdeva tre delle prime quattro gare della stagione

Ecco cosa ci dice questo risultato sulla squadra più forte dell’emisfero nord in vista del mese di novembre

buff.ly/sBPluwf

Sacha is not legal

You should start with a 17 point deficit if you play him

Zebre are giving everything in Parma against a Stormers side that really is on another level

They managed to stay in the game in the first half thanks just to their grit

Great game from Licata and Locatelli thus far

Here's the Italian squad for the November test v Australia, South Africa and Chile

Zilocchi, Zanon, Bertaccini and Gesi are missing out; Opoku (Bath Academy), Todaro (3 tries in 3 Prem games at Saints), Da Re and Mazza are the unexpected calls

Injured: Lucchesi, Nemer, Canali, Lamb, Fusco, Trulla

Kalvin Gourgues is just an amazing talent

He was incredible this summer at the U20 RWC in Italy for France. He obscured players like Taccola and Brau-Boirie (in the semifinal against NZ) that had a lot more Top 14 experience under their belt

Toulouse fans celebrate the comeback of Ange Capuozzo with a banner in Italian: the angel is back

(Ange is French for Angelo, angel)

🔥🇮🇹

4️⃣ giocatori da seguire nel weekend in arrivo e in quelli successivi

buff.ly/nC1hxU1

Cinque personaggi di un sabato eccezionale Lo scorso fine settimana sono successe un vagone di cose: i protagonisti

💣 Sabato 27 settembre c’è stata una vera e propria esplosione di rugby

✍ Un groviglio di risultati, storie, partite e persone da provare a sciogliere puntando la luce su alcuni dei protagonisti

👉 rugbydrop.substack.com/p/cinque-per...

That's a straight red imho, didn't get the reasoning behind Vedovelli's decision

#BULvOSP

Some really good sequences in this game (that All Blacks try was just unbelievable), but I'm struggling to enjoy a game with 5 injuries in 40 mins, 4 of those players out for HIA

Dicono che la fase a gironi della Rugby World Cup 2025 sia stata noiosa, per via dei tanti risultati scontati o con ampio divario

E invece, secondo me, è stata una boccata d’aria fresca

rugbydrop.substack.com/p/la-fase-a-...

Pas mal Nacho Brex

Yeah, totally frustrating performance once again

That's the beauty of the English language: such a perfect metaphor

I'm now both amused and sad 😅

Now there's just a last game against Brazil, a dead rubber where it will be hard to earn something good to try and finish on a high

The team will go home as one of the biggest disappointments of this tournament

The problem is always the same: exit the 22. It becomes impossible when you do this incredible amount of handling errors

When they managed to catch the game at 24-24, they just weren't able to keep the ball away from their red zone

It was clear to everybody that South Africa is a big team in the making, and today they've earned their biggest win in their history in the women's game

Nonetheless, Italy played a bad game again after a disappointing first one v France