Rome (AFP)

New coach, new executives, new captain but always problems: despite some timid positive signals, the XV of Italy will appear on Sunday at the Stade de France in the most total blur and without any guarantee as to its value at the highest level.

New coach Franco Smith didn't say much during his presentation press conference a fortnight before the start of the tournament, so everyone held back his joke. "The only thing really in our favor is that nobody knows what we want to do."

But it cannot be said that this state of uncertainty has greatly disturbed Wales, 42-0 Saturday winner of Italians who themselves did not seem very sure of where they were going.

"Today, we are not up to the Tournament," wrote the next day the Corriere dello Sport, still formidably severe towards the Azzurri but who also recalled some ruthless figures: 23 consecutive defeats in the Tournament since a success in Scotland in 2015, the only one in the last 31 matches played in the event.

"We have only been together for a few weeks. We are looking to change our game and our mentality and to bring this project to fruition, it takes time," argued Smith, who is however ... only interim.

- Big blur -

"We cannot change every four months and to get certain results, I think it takes at least six years," also explained before the Tournament the successor to Conor O'Shea, who left without a word or almost at after a World Cup ended in fishtail with the cancellation of the match against the All Blacks.

The South African interim coach is therefore long-term and requires time, but the president of the federation reasons for him in the present.

"Agree to lay the foundations for the next World Cup, but the team is already competitive. We hope to do better because this team is the showcase of our discipline," said Alfredo Gavazzi.

In the midst of this great vagueness, the new captain Luca Bigi and his men presented themselves at the Millenium Stadium without much certainty and without several executives who have held the barracks in recent years, like the retired or pre-retired Sergio Parisse and Leonardo Ghiraldini, or Michele Campagnaro, injured.

And they gave the image of a team with no real strong point, apart from a satisfactory conquest, in particular in touch, of a 3rd line of good level, which will be subjected on Sunday to a big test against the Blues, and a rejuvenated first line that was not ridiculous.

But the recurring shortcomings of Italian rugby jumped to the fore in Cardiff: lack of offensive efficiency, indiscipline, weakness of the sidelines and athletic deficiencies at a time of change.

- Encouraging franchises -

Like all his predecessors, Smith will also have to deal with a very limited reservoir and with the country's lack of enthusiasm for a team that is constantly losing and for a marginal discipline outside of a few modest bastions in the North (Treviso, Padua, Calvisano, ... Rovigo).

In the end, after the attempts of renowned foreign technicians (Nick Mallett, Jacques Brunel, O'Shea ...), it is a certain feeling of helplessness which dominates. As recalled by the Gazzetta dello Sport at the start of the week, the XV of Italy has indeed not progressed in twenty years of the Tournament, while the federal budget has been multiplied by ten to reach 45 million euros.

While the fear of a tournament exit or the possibility of a play-off with Georgia regularly returns, Italian rugby nevertheless retains some grounds for hope.

Its two franchises (Benetton Trévise and Zebre Rugby) have obtained encouraging results in Pro 14 for two seasons, such as the U20 selection, victorious of the Welsh at the opening of the Tournament of its age class.

"They are strong. The next four years will be used to gradually integrate them," confirmed Smith. In the meantime, the Italian horizon seems blocked, and not only by Blues swollen to the block by their success against England (24-17).

© 2020 AFP