TREVISO. We started again as best we could, Saturday in Monigo, with the splendid 22-18 victory against the Stormers of Cape Town, the team where Kolisi, captain of the Sprinboks world championship played.
The Urc championship – United Rugby Championship – does not have the best possible acronym but it is an intercontinental tournament for clubs, with five nations (and which nations, rugby speaking) represented. And if you please.
It has started again. With a Rainbow Cup on the showcase at the Ghirada, a cup that is the embryo of today’s tournament, which sprouted in full pandemic. An honor, but also a burden, if only because it no longer grants alibis. Also because the background had been devastating for Treviso: zero wins, a draw in 16 matches, the worst Celtic season in 11 years.
Back to rugby that matters. With the elite of South African rugby to give prestige to an already prestigious tournament. And with an Italian head coach, Marco Bortolami, who collects Crowley’s legacy, called to revive Italy. And with a super-assistant, Paul Gustard. And with Andrea Masi. A technical line with a high Anglo-Saxon rate, for a Benetton increasingly the first ambassador of the Italian movement, not only for the results on the field.
With the public – at 50%, for now, but it is hoped to grow, in parallel with the decline of Covid 19, to see the Monigo temple crowded soon at least 75% – and for those who cannot, there is also the option free-to-air television on Mediaset channel 20.
With one of the jerseys that goes back to the roots, to the biancocelesti colors: In a few months, Treviso rugby will celebrate its 90 years, half of which will be under the Benetton brand. With a new hymn, also in a strong territorial key, of the “fioi” Rumatera. With an increasingly multinational team, but with a strengthened Italian stock rejuvenated with the best promises of the movement. And with several exponents who grew up in Ghirada.
The adventure is here, now. Indeed no, it will last nine months, one birth. Come on Benetton, come on Treviso.
STARTING WITH THE RIGHT FOOT
Let’s start discovering the United Rugby Championship, a 16-team tournament that for the second time has opened its doors to teams from another continent. After the not unforgettable experience of 2019 with Kings and Cheetahs, we try again with 12 Europeans and 4 South Africans: one of these, the Stormers of Cape Town, is the first opponent of Benetton. As if to say: we start again as we had finished, that is with the southern hemisphere, with the unforgettable final of the Rainbow Cup won on June 19 by overwhelming the Bulls of Pretoria 35-8.
Since then, several things have changed for the Lions, starting with the technical staff, now led by Marco Bortolami, who survived (indeed, promoted) with Fabio Ongaro to the previous one. And the team has also changed, which has tried to refresh with the addition of some young and experienced foreigners: there are four rookies in the 15th (the South Africans Coetzee and Wegner, in addition to the Argentines Albornoz and Chaparro) and two on the bench ( Lorenzo Cannone and Marin).
The mentality that Bortolami wants to transplant is also new, it must be a Benetton capable of reaping what it sows, more concrete, cynical. Perhaps rediscovering the ancient defensive solidity, the ability in tackling and above all a discipline that cannot be ignored in the international field: we will see today if the 78 points and 12 goals scored in a friendly match by Sharks and Edinburgh should have already been considered a alarm bell.
In any case, it will have to become the season in which to see Treviso regain a leading place in the standings: those 15 consecutive defeats of last year will only have to remain a bad and unrepeatable memory, to be canceled with a season of a completely different depth. The XV fielded by coach Bortolami appears competitive, even taking into account that authentic pillars are still absent, especially in the pack, such as Baravalle, Faiva, Ferrari, Halafihi, Negri, Steyn, wineskin in Morisi.
On the other hand, it is comforting to review together the wings Tavuyara and Ioane: their teammates have the task of winning the ball and making sure to deliver it to them in the most appropriate times and ways, they could be, albeit with different characteristics, the main picks to undermine the South African defense. Among all the other eyes certainly focused on Tomas Albornoz, Argentine opener recently 24 years old, designated heir of Paolo Garbisi: he will be the kicker in charge of making fixed points.
At Stormers, the European tour started with the defeat of Monigo which, before returning home, will see them face Benetton, Munster, Edinburgh and the Dragons within a month, in order.
THE ADVERSARIES: Leinster is still the queen but the Welsh are trying the blitz. The first 8 go to the playoffs
Reinforced Irish – Vermeulen and Nakarawa in Ulster, Zebo in Munster, and Leinster, which once again seems to start a step ahead of the others – and the emerald quartet is certainly the strongest of the three Celtic nations. Also watch out for Connacht, who brings Hansen to the Brumbies.
However, the Welsh girls want to surprise, and Gareth Anscombe’s return, after two years of absence, to the Ospreys is worth it. They say goodbye to Cory Allen and Scott Williams, respectively in Dragons and Scarlets, but the Neath and Swansea franchise secures Cuthbert and Taione. Cardiff rejoins Rhys Priestland, but the pack will no longer have Hill, flown to Japan
And the Scots? They are not going to stay behind. There is also Duncan Weir, who returns to Glasgow, and will have a fight with the Argentine Miotti. But the Warriors will lose Fusaro, Seymour, Allan, Rae and Matawalu. Edinburgh has already made the Lions feel strength and deep pink, giving them a bad fifty in the last warm up.
And the South Africans? Not only do they give prestige, from December they will be able to have their full say, when they have re-embraced the national teams. But even without the reigning world champions, there are boulders on the course. This URC is even more demanding for Treviso. There are no smooth matches.
ZEBRE WITH AN OLYMPIC GOLD
And Zebras in the queue only in alphabetical order: the federal reality, which must be structured economically within two seasons, has engaged the young pylons Ion Neculai and Ramiro Valdés Iribarren, the latter Liam Mitchell, from New Zealander and Andrea Zambonin, great local promise. And behind them are Erich Cronjé, South African, and Timothy O’Malley, but the spotlight is all on Asaeli Tuivuaka, Fijian, fresh Olympic gold in Tokyo in the Seven, a colossus which cannot be left even an inch.
THE FORMULA
Four groups of 4 teams, but one ranking. The poules are geographical and “nationalist”: South Africa ranks Vodacom Bulls, DHL Stormers, Cell C Sharks and Emirates Lions; Ireland Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht; Wales Ospreys, Cardiff (formerly Blues), Newport Dragons and Scarlets. The fourth is mixed, Italian-Scottish. And Treviso figures with Zebre, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh. Each team will play three home and away matches with the opponents of their own poule; then he will challenge the other 12 opponents in a one-way match (so to speak).
In the end there are 18 days. Important news: modified and streamlined calendar, no overlap with international tests. In the playoffs, the first 8, quarterfinals and semifinals will finally designate the two finalists. With Treviso that wants to go as far as possible.
THE COMMENT / We must always believe in dreams: there is all of Treviso with our floo
by Massimo Guerretta
“From the locker rooms to the grandstand, all with their brawn, there is only one family: Leoni”. Yes, we are all lions. They on the pitch, who today begin an extraordinary adventure, a true “world” championship with cultures, countries and lifestyles that mix to form a tournament destined to become the NBA of the oval ball, the United Rugby Championship. You, readers, from the stands and from the entire province, who can’t wait – there is no shortage of testimonies – to return to cheer for the green-and-whites (third time annexed, of course), chasing away the pandemic. And we of the Tribuna, media partner of Benetton, who believe in an oval world capable of falling and rising, of going from dust to the sensational feat of the Rainbow Cup, to which we have strongly supported. And then the Rumatera are right, they signed the official Benetton anthem that you will hear from today at Monigo, and not only: «All Treviso with our flies».
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