Singing lessons for Azzurri boss
Italy's French coach Jacques Brunel is determined not to be accused of divided loyalties when his team lines up against France this weekend in their Six Nations opener.
The former French assistant has been taking singing lessons from team manager Luigi Troiani to ensure he will appear as Italian as his multi-national players when kick-off time arrives at the Stade de France.
Although many Italy players were born outside the country, such as captain Sergio Parisse, prop Martin Castrogiovanni (both Argentina), lock Quintin Geldenhuys (South Africa) and fullback Luke McLean (Australia), all sing the Mameli Anthem with pride and gusto.
And Brunel wants to be no different, taking lessons with Troiani in preparation for his big debut.
"We'll have a final practice on Friday and then we'll see how it goes," said Troiani on Monday.
Ahead of the game, Italy have a few injury concerns with prop Alberto De Marchi expected to miss Saturday's match, although first-choice flyhalf Luciano Orquera and flank Paul Derbyshire should both be fit.
"De Marchi is training on his own to try to resolve a muscular problem to his calf which he picked up a week ago in the European Cup," added Troiani.
"He had some tests today (Monday) and he's on the path to recovery, although we can assume that he won't be available right now.
"As for Derbyshire and Orquera they've each been undergoing tests and tonight we will have a clearer idea as to their situation but they could both be available before De Marchi.
"In any case, we're not planning on calling up any replacements to the 30-man squad, which will be reduced to 24 ahead of the trip to Paris."
Brunel named a 30-man squad a couple of weeks ago which would form the basis of his match-day squads for the first two Six Nations clashes against France and England, in Rome on February 11.
Not included were stalwarts such as Mirco Bergamasco, Carlos Del Fava and Gonzalo Garcia, all just back following injuries, and prop Salvatore Perugini, who has been dropped.
AFP