Italy scoop up crumbs of comfort with another wooden spoon

Italy coach Nick Mallett can take some crumbs of comfort from another Six Nations campaign which ended on Saturday with the Azzurri rooted to the bottom of the standings for the third year in a row since he took over.

Mallett highlighted Italy’s fighting spirit after they closed the competition with a 33-10 defeat in Wales and the defensive resilience of a side that frequently spends long spells in their own half.

“This team never lack heart,” the South African told reporters after his injury-hit team went down in Cardiff.

“I’m happy with our defence. We conceded three tries against Wales when Italy sides of the past would have let in eight.

“They are great lads with desire to develop and we scored five beautiful tries in the tournament.” Mallett has also made progress regarding some long-standing trouble spots.

First, he has found a decent goal kicker in Mirco Bergamasco, who has quickly acquired a good degree of reliability from short and medium distances and is gradually increasing his range.

The winger missed a relatively easy penalty against Wales, but a flawless kicking display was fundamental when the Azzurri beat Scotland 16-12 last month to pick up their only win this year and end a two-year drought in the competition.

Secondly, Australian-born rugby league convert Craig Gower has proved to be an acceptable medium-term solution at flyhalf, a problem position since it was vacated by Diego Dominguez seven years ago.

TALENTED GOWER The 31-year-old’s kicking game is inevitably limited as he plays centre for his club Bayonne, but he is solid in defence, has a good eye for a break and has added some unpredictability to Italy’s attack.

“Gower isn’t a flyhalf by nature but he’s a talented player,” former Italy prop Giampiero de Carli told Reuters.

“For now, he’s our best solution. The team can cook things up in his hands, create chances.

“Now we need to find someone who is as good as Gower and can confidently cover that role to back him up.” Naturally, a side that finishes the tournament with a points difference of -68 still has much work to do.

ROME, Monday (Reuters)