Rinascimento del nostro rugby

[oldprussians]

scritto da un Italiano.... allora non mi fido che non a un bias..

Player of November: Tommaso Castello. The Zebre captain had his first meaningful taste of life in an Azzurri shirt and was simply rock solid. He played three complete matches and showed his granitic attitude in every way he could. His November stats were impressive as he amassed 33 runs for 118 meters, three clean breaks and four defenders beaten against the Pumas and Springboks. He is still a one-dimensional player, but he almost ignited the dull Italians backline all by himself.

Flop of November: Leonardo Sarto. It may sound disrespectful but more must be expected from a player universally recognised as a top international winger. He played a pretty good game against Fiji but then he simply disappeared from the pitch against the Pumas in Florence. He therefore travelled back to his unbeaten Glasgow Warriors and played a heck of a game in Swansea. It's an annoying riddle.

Biggest surprise: Giovanni Licata. The 20-year-old big block from Sicily went from a training camp with Zebre to a permit player contract with the PRO14 side, making his debut in the very first game of the season. He has missed only one game so far. Conor O'Shea gave him 20 minutes against Fiji, another 20 against Argentina [he made 12 tackles in a difficult finale] before he was entrusted with the No. 6 shirt against the Springboks. The result? 23 runs for 57 metres, one clean break, three defenders beaten and one offload... This guy has some balls folks.

Moving forward or slipping backwards? There's not really much to say about this November. Italy got the crucial Fiji scalp, competed with Argentina and ended being smashed by the Springboks, as predicted on these same pages. The Azzurri entered the month sitting 14th in the World Rugby rankings and will finish the year in the same spot. A long way to go but the path to follow is crystal clear now.

Biggest talking point on road to Japan: When you end up in a Pool with the All Blacks and the Springboks you already know life will be pretty miserable. But then you get overpowered, outmuscled and overshadowed by the South Africans at home and you realise that probably even a miracle won't prevent you to getting kicked out at the end of the group stage. Again. End of story. New young faces stepped in offering some solid contribution and the general organisation is still slowly developing. Wayne Smith is set to land in Italy next year and would be a worthy addition to O'Shea's staff. -- Enrico Borra