Scotland and Italy may not make World Cup quarters, but warm-up is important
I was over the moon this week when I discovered that the northern hemisphere Rugby World Cup warm-ups were getting underway this week.
It may not be the likes of France or England but it’s good to see international rugby back ahead of one of the biggest and most unpredictable World Cup events in a long time.
Scotland take on Italy on Saturday at Murrayfield while Down Under there’s a Bledisloe Cup tie between Australia and New Zealand in the 100,000 seater Melbourne Cricket Ground – host of the second Test against the British and Irish Lions in 2025 – and a match between South Africa and Argentina.
World Cup hopes
But focusing on two of Europe’s top nations, it is fascinating to see how both Gregor Townsend’s Scotland and Kieran Crowley’s Italy look at this match north of the border.
Do you go all in, lay down a marker and risk injury? Or do you try to reserve energy and, yet again, risk injury? It is a double edged sword.
Scotland are a weird asset at the moment. They have the talent, much of it originating from overseas, but they have mavericks like Finn Russell, too.
They will miss Staurt Hogg, who retired from the game last month, rather surprisingly.
He was such a stalwart for the Scots and one of their senior lads who could just be relied upon.
He leaves a gaping hole on the field, one which will be difficult to fill with any meaningful replacement.
Scotland are stuck in a pool with Ireland and South Africa so they’re somewhat seen as outsiders to progress through to the last eight at the World Cup.
Resting
But they open against South Africa and close against Ireland so they can at least target those two matches and have a rest in between – if Ireland are struggling with the reintegration of Johnny Sexton, Scotland will target that game with the hope of displacing Ireland in the quarter-finals.
Scotland can be an issue to any side but I just don’t see them challenging. That said, they will obviously back themselves, and their campaign technically starts this weekend against Italy.
The Azzurri are a bit of an unknown, their head coach is out of the door after the Rugby World Cup and they never seem to be able to string together a number of performances that makes them look remotely competitive to opposition sides.
In a pool with New Zealand and hosts France, many consider Italy’s best run at the showpiece event a third place finish in the pool.
They’ll want to use these warm-ups to prove they’re competitive and they’ll undoubtedly want the scalp of Italy as part of that.
The Azzurri head to Dublin next week and host Romania towards the end of the month – two out of those three could be winnable for Italy.
They also take on Japan in their final match before the World Cup, who seem to be at their level given current results coming out of Asia at the moment.
I love the World Cup, and the warm-ups for me signify the beginning of that process. We’re properly in it now and I cannot predict the winner. I am just here, like most of you, for the ride. So let’s get on with it!
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance, experts in leadership development and behavioural change. Follow Ollie on Twitter and on LinkedIn.