Mallett touched by Kidney kindness
Italian coach Nick Mallett saluted Ireland counterpart Declan Kidney as an ‘amazing gentleman’ after his last match in charge of the Azzurri ended in a 36-6 World Cup Pool C defeat.
Sunday’s loss, in the final match of the pool stage, saw Italy knocked out, with Ireland going through to a place in the quarterfinals that has so far eluded all Italian teams at the World Cup.
For former Springbok boss Mallett the loss set the seal on a four-year reign as Azzurri coach, with Italian chiefs having announced before the tournament he would be replaced by Frenchman Jacques Brunel, recently in charge of Top 14 club Perpignan and France forwards coach under Bernard Laporte.
But the pain of defeat was eased by some consoling words from Kidney.
“I was incredibly touched by what Declan Kidney said to me at the end,” Mallett told reporters.
“He’s an amazing gentleman and rugby is very privileged to have men like him running national sides.
“To have another coach say the things he did was very touching.”
Neither man would reveal the details of their conversation but Kidney, whose team play old foes Wales in the quarterfinals, said: “I think his [Mallett’s] record speaks for itself.
“Any of the lads will tell you it [the Italy match] is one of the tightest games in the Six Nations and Nick’s been a big part of that.
“I’ve been lucky to meet Nick at coaches’ meetings and he’s an excellent rugby man.”
Defeat left Mallett with an Italy record of nine wins from 42 Tests, with 33 defeats.
“Obviously I am unhappy about the way it finished,” Mallett said.
“I didn’t expect as heavy a defeat. History will tell whether I was a good Italian coach or not.”
As recently as March, Italy beat France in the Six Nations for the first time having lost just 13-11 to Ireland a few weeks earlier.
It was that last Ireland result which gave Italy hope heading into Sunday’s clash at Dunedin’s Otago Stadium.
However, even before powerhouse prop Martin Castrogiovanni went off shortly before half-time, Italy failed to establish the scrum dominance that Mallett believed would be theirs against Ireland.
Ireland turned round 9-6 up before early second half tries from skipper Brian O’Driscoll and Keith Earls, who added another late in the game, gave the men in green an unbeatable lead.
“He felt pain in his upper hamstring,” Mallett said of Castrogiovanni.
“We got our first three points from a scrum. Had that scrum stayed together it would have helped our cause but let me say it wouldn’t have helped us win the game,” Mallett added.
“Ireland put us under pressure and a team under pressure makes mistakes.
“It was very tough for my players. I’m proud of the way they played for 40 minutes but they were thoroughly outplayed in that second half.”
Mallett, understood to have received several offers to stay in rugby but yet to clarify his future, was clearly emotional as he contemplated the end of a stint in charge of Italy that started with a 16-11 defeat by Ireland in Dublin in February 2008.
“It’s very hard to think this could have been the last match with them, it’s very hard to say how this feels.”
AFP
