Rugby: the Nations Championship gets underway – Italia’s first match is in Japan

So, what’s the point of naming the world’s number one team if the World Cup is coming up in 12 months’ time? Why did World Rugby, the international governing body, feel the need to launch a new competition? Well, it all boils down to some rhetorical questions: business is calling the shots, with the prospect of higher TV rights fees and revenue from the big weekend at the end of November.

It’s a shame that, despite the much-heralded desire to broaden the game, develop it as much as possible and give the less successful national teams more opportunities to compete, the system imposed by the Nations Championship completely excludes all teams ranked 13th or lower. Those in the elite enjoy all the benefits, whilst those excluded find themselves increasingly relegated to a secondary role. And, at least for now, there won’t even be the slightest change from one edition to the next.

And so we come to Japan v Italia, with head coach Gonzalo Quesada’s men taking on the team that is, on paper, the least well-equipped in the group (they are in 12th place in the rankings, whilst the Azzurri are 10th). However, the home side, coached by Eddie Jones, have both home advantage and a longer preparation period to their credit, which has also included a couple of warm-up matches.

Italia is fresh from a brilliant Six Nations campaign, finishing in fourth place with its first-ever victory against England, and is giving a summer break to players who have been particularly worn out by the season just ended. However, it still fields an interesting line-up that is up to the task, featuring two debutants: the 20-year-old winger Malik Faissal (who is set to move from Zebre Parma to Northampton, fresh from winning the English championship alongside fellow Italian international Fischetti) and the 23-year-old flanker Alessandro Ortombina, also from Zebre.

Quesada speaks of the absolute necessity of expanding the squad, not least with a view to the 2027 World Cup. “We certainly can’t expect to make our way to the World Cup by always using just 15–20 players,” he explains. And this is one of the reasons why we’re giving Faissal and Ortombina their debuts; we’ve seen them perform very well in our preparations for these matches and they’re coming off the back of an excellent season with Zebre. Alessandro was chosen over Ross Vintcent, who isn’t yet 100 per cent fit, we’ve ‘poached’ Malik from the Under-20s (who yesterday beat Japan 41–25 at the Under-20 World Cup in Georgia, ed.) and if we’re doing something like this, it’s because we believe he’s ready to play. Besides, we know how important the aerial game is, and one of his greatest strengths lies precisely in contesting high balls. In general, I can say that we’ll continue to give opportunities to those whose quality is close to that of the first-team players, so that they can prove themselves and show they can hold their own in a squad that we’re aiming to expand.”

Speaking of newcomers, there are two special ones – not amongst the players, but on the coaching staff. Roberto Santamaria is in charge of the scrum, whilst Mr Sergio Parisse, the Azzurri icon returning in a different role, is the lineout specialist. “I knew them both, and Sergio in particular, of course,” says Quesada, “and I had no doubts about the quality of the players and the coaches. It remained to be seen how well they would gel with one another, and the best news is that they’ve immediately found a synergy that translates into mutual support. Of course, they’re facing a huge challenge, because the scrum is missing players such as Nicotera, Ferrari, Negri and Zuliani, but in a very short space of time they’ve already done an excellent job.”

ON THE PITCH

(Tokyo, Saturday 4 July, 10.40 Italian time)

Japan: Matsunaga; Ueda, Riley, Hirose, Ishida; Ito, Saito; Cornelsen, Shimokawa, Gunter; Dearns (capt.), Hockings; Takeuchi, Harada, Okabe. Substitutes: Era, Otsuka, Tamefusa, Stolberg, Leitch, Costley, Kamimura, Greene

Italia: Pani; Faissal, Brex, Menoncello, Ioane; P. Garbisi, Varney; L. Cannone, Lamaro (capt.), Ortombina; Zambonin, N. Cannone; Riccioni, Di Bartolomeo, Fischetti. Substitutes: Lucchesi, Spagnolo, Hasa, Favretto, Vintcent, Fusco, Marin, Allan

THE NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP*

(July phase, to be followed by the November phase)

Saturday 4 July: Japan v Italia (10.40 Italian time); New Zealand v France; Australia v Ireland; Fiji v Wales (in Cardiff); South Africa v England; Argentina v Scotland

Saturday 11 July: New Zealand v Italia (7.10 Italian time); Australia v France; Japan v Ireland; Fiji v England (in Liverpool); South Africa v Scotland; Argentina v Wales

Saturday 18 July: Australia v Italia (12.10 Italian time); New Zealand v Ireland; Japan v France; Fiji v Scotland (in Edinburgh); South Africa v Wales; Argentina v England

*All matches will be broadcast live on SkySport channels. Italia’s matches will also be shown free-to-air on TV8 and Cielo

THE WORLD RANKINGS

1. South Africa; 2. New Zealand; 3. Ireland; 4. France; 5. Argentina; 6. England; 7. Scotland; 8. Australia; 9. Fiji; 10. Italia; 11. Wales; 12. Japan; 13. Georgia; 14. Portugal; 15. Uruguay; 16. USA; 17. Spain; 18. Chile; 19. Tonga; 20. Samoa