Louis Lynagh hits out at ‘annoying’ narrative and issues warning to England over ‘dangerous’ mindset
Italy and Benetton wing Louis Lynagh, son of Michael, with his family.
The water running through the canals of Treviso sparkles in the midday sunshine as Louis Lynagh heads home from another morning of rehab.
The Italy star had hoped to be coming up against former Harlequins team-mates Marcus Smith, Fin Baxter and Chandler Cunningham-South at Twickenham on Sunday.
Instead he is in San Biagio di Callalta, a 10-minute drive from the city centre, recovering from knee ligament surgery in his grandad’s house where he was born.
The frustration in his voice is more than just the timing of an injury which has ruled him out of the entire Six Nations a year after helping Italy deliver their coming-of-age campaign, beating Scotland and Wales and drawing with France in Lille only because the ball fell from the tee in the dying seconds as Paolo Garbisi lined up a simple penalty to win the match.
Underdogs
It is because he knows what the world will be thinking after the Azzurri followed another win over Wales by crashing to a 73-24 home loss to France last time out.
“They won’t be giving us a chance against England,” he said. “All the headlines will be Italy have not beaten England in 31 attempts and how that is not about to change after what France did to them.
“That is annoying because it is not at all a true reflection of this Italy team and where Italian rugby is. We have made huge progress under Gonzalo (head coach Quesada). That game is an outlier. I think it would be dangerous for England to think otherwise.”
Lynagh realises those words might sound hollow after what the Antoine Dupont-inspired French did at Stadio Olimpico, running in 11 tries to bury the memory of their own off day in London a fortnight earlier.
He knows also that Twickenham is not a happy hunting ground for Italy, who have conceded 661 points in 15 visits at an average of 44 per match. Bookmakers price the visitors at 16/1.
But he says: “I truly believe we will come back stronger from this. Knowing the calibre and character of these boys they will treat it as just a bad day.
“We’re always going to be seen as underdogs, no matter what we do. But expectations within this team have changed. We expect to compete. We feel we should have beaten England a year ago. There is a belief this team can do amazing things.”
Since succeeding Kieran Crowley as head coach, Quesada has won three and drawn one of his eight Six Nations matches. Lynagh cannot speak more highly of him.
“He’s brought a lot of detail and structure to the team, something that was perhaps lacking in the past,” says the 24-year-old. “He’s an incredibly motivating character. He speaks five languages. He relates to everyone.
“What I think he has brought is the experience of a playing career with Argentina which was so often about surpassing expectations. More often than not they were the minnows yet so often they over performed.
“That shows in the way he is with us. He doesn’t want any of the players to think ‘we’re just going to give it a go’. Every game we’re going in to win. There’s a very strong feeling in the camp that this Italy team can compete against the best.
“We felt we changed the narrative about Italy rugby last year. There’s more pressure on us to perform now, but pressure is a blessing. For us it’s about finding that consistency.”
The feeling, ahead of the France game last month, was that Italy could really trouble Les Bleus. Fabien Galthie had responded to defeat to England by dropping half the team and Lynagh felt they could be vulnerable if Italy got into them early.
“I thought their heads could have gone down after Tommy [Menoncello] ran it in from 50 metres for the opening try,” he says. “The problem was, straight from the restart we let them score. They were able to instantly forget the one they’d conceded. They were straight back in it.
“But look, Italian rugby is making significant strides. Yes, it’s 25 years since we joined the Six Nations but look how long it took France to win their first championship outright [49 years].
“I think people forget how hard it is to come in from the outside. Italy has only known rugby properly for a few years. It was always a football country. When my dad played here in the 1990s rugby just had a domestic league. Look at it now.”
In the land of his mother, Isabella, and the city rugby legend dad Michael spent five years playing for Benetton after winning the 1991 World Cup with Australia, Lynagh feels right at home.
He never wanted to leave Harlequins, where he started rugby life at the age of 14, but from the moment he signed with Benetton and Quesada phoned to invite him to join the national squad, he has not looked back.
Italy route
“My goal was always to play for Quins then either England, Italy or Australia, whichever door opened,” he says. “It just so happened this is the route life has taken me down and I couldn’t be happier.
“A lot of people like to joke that I’m not Italian because I sound really English, which I do. But this is one of my homes and will always hold a very special place in my heart.”
It helped that his debut, against Scotland, brought a try and the win. “We went to the fan zone afterwards, went up on stage and it felt like we were rock stars,” he recalls.
However, this weekend pans out he feels Italian rugby is inexorably on the rise and in the next “five to 10 years” will take “another big leap” forward, “consistently finishing in the top two or three. Even winning it.”
“The more games we win, the more kids will want to start playing rugby,” he reasons. “People with a half or even a quarter Italian in them now want to play for Italy.
“I’m half Italian and I’ll do anything to win. I feel passionately about it. It’s the best feeling when no-one gives you a chance and you get to prove so many people wrong.”