Marzio Innocenti, president and chief executive of the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR), went gray in his mid-30s, long before he took up his current role.
Now 65, Innocenti’s day job isn’t exactly helping reverse the aging process.
‘This is a very stressful time for me because it was very clear in my mind that there was an opportunity to change the history of Italian rugby,’ he told Mail Sport from Treviso.
‘It’s so hard to do that. Everyone says I’m going to be really happy after the Six Nations, and I’m really happy. I’m really proud.
‘But now I’m really worried about the future too. My day should be completely focused on the path ahead. The goal doesn’t seem very clear at the moment. That’s the problem.’
Marzio Innocenti, president and chief executive of the Italian Rugby Federation, admitted that these were ‘very stressful times’ to ‘change the history of Italian rugby’.
Italy enjoyed their best Six Nations ever, winning the tournament on home soil for the first time in 11 years.
Welcome to the world of rugby managers, where success is fleeting and the next goal is set almost immediately. There is no time to rest on your honor.
On the surface, all seems rosy in the Italian rugby garden. Wins over Scotland and Wales and a draw with France represent statistically the best senior men’s Six Nations in history.
The Azzurri have secured a wealth of young talent after successfully revamping their pathways, academy and development systems. They have also shown promise at Under-20 level, finishing fourth, third and fourth in the last three Junior Six Nations.
Their leading club, Benetton, have reached the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup and are competing to qualify for the United Rugby Championship play-offs. Last month, Benetton and Italy center Tommaso Menoncello was named Player of the Six Nations Championship.
Menoncello symbolizes Italy’s new dawn.
There is hope that there will be more players like him as part of the development of the field.
‘I think this Italian team will be at its best between 2026 and 2029,’ says Innocenti. ‘Their potential is very high. We want to increase the depth of the national team. This is something new for Italian rugby.
‘In the past there was a mentality that we couldn’t play like England or France. I don’t think there is a rugby god who says England, Ireland and France should be the best in Europe. This isn’t always the case. If we work hard, we can change this history.’
Tommaso Menoncello has been named Six Nations Men’s Player of the Championship for 2024.
The Italian game’s new superstar, 21, returns from injury and campaign to take Six Nations by storm
From the lowest ebb, Italy began planting new roots in the hope that one day the green shoots of recovery would begin to grow. Their revival dates back to before the time of Innocenti.
But, as he pointed out, after 57 successive defeats and 36 successive defeats in the Six Nations, there was no alternative but to change the way rugby was run in this country.
In Italy, rugby remains a minority sport, far behind soccer, Formula 1 and even basketball and volleyball. The national team’s past struggles haven’t helped much with interest in the sport. Innocenti was elected to his current position in 2021, succeeding Alfredo Gavazzi, who successfully launched the rebuild of Italian rugby. Crucially, Gavazzi started from the bottom.
We invested in junior level development with the hope that it would pay off over time. Italy is now starting to see the fruits of its investment.
‘When I was elected, it was probably the worst moment in Italian history because the media wanted to keep Italy out of the six countries,’ Innocenti said.
‘We lost a lot of games and no one was confident that things would change. But we’ve done some good work to transform the Academy over the past few years.
‘We had a real problem with the progression of our youth players. Rugby high performance has changed. It’s different from 20 years ago. Nowadays, a lot is needed for the development of young players. Previously, the moment of switching to high performance was a problem.’
Italian rugby was at its worst when Innocenti was elected, but he managed to turn it around.
Innocenti was elected to his current position in 2021, succeeding Alfredo Gavazzi.
Before his death from severe diabetes, Gavazzi brought Italy’s development system under the control of the FIR rather than the club. Italy has the lowest income in the Six Nations.
But unlike Wales, who won in Cardiff earlier this year, the Azzurri have invested the money they made from CVC Capital Partners’ purchase of a Six Nations stake into their rugby system.
Innocenti pointed to the fact that the Welsh Rugby Union, which has gone through tragically difficult times sportingly, financially and reputationally, used some of its CVC capital to build a hotel in Cardiff. Innocenti smiles. ‘I know,’ he says. ‘I prefer to invest my money in rugby because our business is rugby. We have no say in the decisions of other countries.
‘Maybe a hotel can help. ‘But I wanted to invest in grassroots rugby and the national team to develop the system and strengthen us for the future.’
Italy’s approach offers lessons for countries like Wales and Australia, which are also struggling. Money isn’t everything and a strong and consistent rugby plan can pay off.
CVC’s involvement in the Six Nations and bringing together the country’s commercial interests was known as ‘Project Light’. Ironically, this has left Wales in the dark.
Italy will look to build a bright future for the next World Cup in Australia in 2027, but in the same year CVC will be looking to recoup some of its investment.
The Welsh Rugby Union used some of the CVC capital to build a hotel in Cardiff.
Innocenti joked that ‘we prefer to put our money into rugby because our business is rugby.’
This is a problem not only for Italy but for all six countries in the bloc. This is what keeps Innocenti up at night.
‘The deadline is 2027. If you can improve your returns by then, you can keep investing. That’s what I hope,’ says Innocenti.
‘But if not, I’ll have to cut back. England are fine, but so are all the other Six Nations nations. The current balance is negative. It’s clear that we can’t do the same thing for another 10 years because it’s too expensive. The worry is financial. The good news is that rugby is growing in Italy and stadiums for the Six Nations are sold out.
‘In the past we’ve had one-off wins in the Six Nations. We also beat South Africa. But then we destroyed it. My responsibility at this moment is to continue on this path.
‘We hope that in the future it will be considered normal for Italy to win. After we beat Wales in Cardiff this year, their captain Dafydd Jenkins said it was embarrassing for him that they lost the game.
‘Our captain Michele Lamaro was very upset about this but I told him there was a long history of teams expecting to beat Italy.
‘But if we keep winning, everyone’s opinion will change. I want to win something someday. We lost a lot of money this year when Paolo Garbisi hit the bar with a kick against France! If we had won that game instead of drawn, we would have finished in 3rd place instead of 5th.
‘That’s a big difference. ‘It was terrible from a sporting standpoint, but it was also terrible for my income!’
Michele Lamaro, pictured in the Six Nations, should be a Test regular for the foreseeable future.
Lamaro currently lives in Treviso and plays for Benetton. But he grew up in Rome and lived just a stone’s throw from the capital’s Stadio Olimpico.
‘Olimpico is in the city center. ‘There aren’t many stadiums like that,’ he says.
‘We were not a football-loving family. It’s always been rugby, but I’ve always supported Roma because my friends did the same.
‘I remember the traffic when I was young. I realized that games exist because of people. Now I captain my country on the pitch. ‘I can’t believe it.’
There is tremendous talent for Italy in Lamaro, Menoncello and Ange Capuozzo (who plays club rugby in France with Champions Cup finalist Toulouse) and all should be Test regulars for the time being if fit. They have also been clever in recruiting new players.
Harlequins wing Louis Lynagh was once a member of the England training squad but was lured into the blue shirt and impressed in the Six Nations. Lynagh will be at Benetton from next season.
Italy’s asylum system also brought Exeter’s South African-born striker Ross Vincent out of the blue and made him a national team player. Vintcent’s previous job was delivering pizza.
Italy’s new coach Gonzalo Quesada has started this year’s Six Nations by building on and building on the work done by predecessor Kieran Crowley.
Coach Gonzalo Quesada led Italy to 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in the Six Nations.
Summer matches in Samoa and Tonga, games against Japan, followed by autumn matches against Argentina, Georgia and New Zealand are opportunities for Italy to improve further.
‘It’s really, 100% an exciting time,’ said Lamaro. ‘Last year’s World Cup was quite harsh on us, but tough times make tough people. In the past, when young players came into the team they had to hear all the talk about whether Italy should or shouldn’t play in the Six Nations.
‘Maybe there was some sense of loss in the back of their hearts. Now we have players like Louis who have won two games and two. It builds confidence in the mind.’
Italy debated the value of this year’s Six Nations.
‘We know we still have to get better and keep improving. But confidence is a big thing. We don’t want our players to feel stress or pressure on their shoulders,’ says Lamaro.
‘What Jenkins said is from a Welsh perspective. That’s understandable, but our goal is to change the mindset of other teams thinking that beating Italy is easy. Scotland have been in the same position before and changed everyone’s minds. We know and believe that we can do the same.’
