By Camilla
December 9 2004

After being set the challenge to write a pre-match report for this week's Treviso return fixture, Camilla has produced the goods. It's an alternative approach and raises a subject about which most ERE'ers will have a view. Read on...

Male bravado is an interesting phenomenon.

Sometime around the turn of the century as I sat in an open plan office in the heart of the City minding other peoples business I overheard the building crescendo of an opinionated conversation. With both protagonists unwilling to blink there was clearly only going to be one solution to this standoff – in time honoured tradition both sides were to save face (albeit temporarily) with that absurd notion of putting one’s money in the vicinity of one’s mouth – a bet.

Our two rutting stags couldn’t have been more different. In the blue corner stood Piers, a slightly puffy mid-forties broker whose knowledge of rugby was based on what he had drunkenly overheard in the corporately entertained car park at Twickenham prior to talking through each entire game he attended - he played soccer at school, I think; and in the red Nicola, a slight but athletically built thirtysomething who had originally come to work in London from Milan in his teens thereby dodging national service back home. Nicola had married and stayed in London and now in the familiar surroundings of his office must’ve wondered why all his colleagues within earshot were gazing at him open mouthed as though he had just openly confessed to loving the smell of bicycle saddles on a summer’s day.

The bet he had just made was at best sanguine: that within the next ten years Italy would beat England in the new Six Nations tournament. The loser would have to bear the cost of taking the winner and his wife to a restaurant of his choosing……anywhere in the world.

How we all laughed at his jingoistic foolhardiness. Yet with six years left to this bet, if I was in Nicola’s Gucci Loafers I’d be tempted to slip onto Google and type “obscenely priced restaurants”.

Make no bones about it, from almost a standing start back in 2000 Italian rugby is in reasonable shape and the prospects look good. The Azzurri will achieve more noteworthy results internationally (over and above beating Scotland ) when their domestic club game is at a level that allows them to compete in the Heineken Cup. That time has already arrived and Treviso for one are not turning up just to fulfil fixtures, they are competing well at this level and getting good results: They comprehensively beat Bourgoin who are no slouches (despite this weekends trouncing), Leinster very nearly came unstuck against them and we did. In the first half we were slaughtered in much the same way that Worcester recently took apart Wasps. We were left with too much to do. Gone are the days when best second place qualification for the quarter finals was decided by whether you had an Italian side in your group.

So to this weekend what should we expect? Despite not being hugely surprised that we went down last Saturday I definitely will be if we are unable to build and sustain a lead at the Rec. It could well be close and based on our lack of killer instinct this year I would be very surprised if we emerge with the five points that we need to give us any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages. I want to be proved wrong but with a deepening injury crisis I just don’t see it.

Full marks to the Italians – they are not fully there yet, but the advances they have made in the last four years are noteworthy – watch this space.