Player ratings: Sebastian Negri stars despite Italy defeat

Editor

Here’s our Italy player ratings following their 34-17 defeat to France.

15 Matteo Minozzi – Industrious and brave but could not quite create those openings. Was rewarded with a try for his efforts and, should Italy manage to provide more space on the outside, Minozzi will then be able to show his true quality. 6/10

14 Tommaso Benvenuti – A player who struggled with Italy not having much success in the outside channels. Benvenuti has shown his quality in previous Six Nations but, quite simply, the team isn’t good enough for him to benefit. 5/10

13 Tommaso Boni – Showed the odd glimpse but was comfortably outplayed by Mathieu Bastareaud. Boni was good against England but has been slightly found out at this level in the past couple of encounters. 5/10

12 Tommaso Castello – The better of the two Italy centres, Castello made ground when he got the ball and was solid in defence, making an impressive 11 tackles without missing any. A solid shift. 6/10

11 Mattia Bellini – Like Tommaso Benvenuti, Bellini is better than what he showed on Friday night, but there’s only so much you can do when you don’t have the space to work with. 5/10

10 Tommaso Allan – Similar to France, Italy have consistently had issues in finding a fly-half of the requisite quality and that conundrum will continue after this Six Nations. Allan is not helped by an underpowered pack, but he struggles to stamp his authority on proceedings at this level. 5/10

9 Marcello Violi – Has a decent pass and box-kicking is generally pretty sound, but there is nothing really to excite with Violi. Like Tommaso Allan, there is a caveat in that the half-back is hampered by the quality of ball he is receiving from the forward eight. 5/10

8 Sergio Parisse – More involved than he has been so far in the Six Nations, but it was another substandard performance by the usually inspirational captain. The number eight is now 34 and it is starting to tell in his displays. 5/10

7 Maxime Mbanda – Made plenty of tackles and carries, but failed to make much impact on a pretty stout French defence. Is often impressive for Zebre but there are question marks over whether Mbanda quite has what it takes at the very highest level. 5/10

6 Sebastian Negri – Arguably the standout performer on both sides, Negri was absolutely magnificent. Very strong, bouncing off tackles with ease, and pretty quick, Italy have discovered an excellent player. 8/10

5 Dean Budd – Will have better days. Was anonymous before being forced off in the 34th minute. Another who’s not quite up to level needed in the Six Nations at the moment. 5/10

4 Alessandro Zanni – A very good shift from the old warhorse, Zanni has justified Conor O’Shea’s decision to bring him back into the fold. The 34-year-old made 17 tackles without missing and never took a backward step. 7/10

3 Simone Ferrari – Did not have much success in the scrum and was anonymous in the loose, Italy are just not quite producing the quality of props they used to. 5/10

2 Leonardo Ghiraldini – Although there were a few set-piece issues, it is hard to mark down Ghiraldini, who offered plenty throughout. With a game-high 18 tackles, the hooker defended superbly, and he also carried hard with ball in hand. 7/10

1 Andrea Lovotti – Like Ghiraldini, Lovotti defended well, but the prop was often forced back in the tackle and never made much ground. Is always busy, however, and never shirks anything. 6/10

Replacements:

16 Luca Bigi – Came on and got yellow carded. Not great. 4/10

17 Nicola Quaglio – Came on in the 57th minute and made 15 tackles. Remarkable work ethic. 6/10

18 Tiziano Pasquali – Like Quaglio, was busy in his 18 minutes on the field and defended well. 6/10

19 George Biagi – Put himself about and was resilient but lineout an issue at times. 6/10

20 Federico Ruzza – Not on long enough.

21 Edoardo Gori – Was on relatively early for Violi but ultimately struggled. 5/10

22 Carlo Canna – Not on long enough.

23 Jayden Hayward – Had a decent impact, making a couple of clean breaks. 7/10