{"id":293371,"date":"2023-09-21T19:34:36","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T19:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=293371"},"modified":"2023-09-21T19:34:36","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T19:34:36","slug":"tommaso-allan-confident-italy-can-pull-off-titanic-all-blacks-upset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/rugby-union\/tommaso-allan-confident-italy-can-pull-off-titanic-all-blacks-upset\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommaso Allan \u2018confident\u2019 Italy can pull off titanic All Blacks upset"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tommaso Allan pulled the srings in Italy\u2019s win over Uruguay <\/p>\n
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Italy\u2018s Tommaso Allan believes his side are ready to meet the might of New Zealand and France after overcoming Uruguay.<\/p>\n
Kieran Crowley\u2019s side survived a scare in Nice, overturning a ten-point halftime deficit to score 31 unanswered points after the interval and continue a perfect start to their Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
The task now gets significantly tougher, though, with back-to-back meetings against two tournament favourites.<\/p>\n
Italy first face the All Blacks in Lyon on Friday 29 September before taking on the hosts in their final Pool A game in the city a week later. <\/p>\n
While a last-eight place would appear to be a long shot for the Azzurri, Italy narrowly missed out on a famous Six Nations win against France earlier this year and Allan believes the fightback against Uruguay has instilled a young squad with real confidence.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe haven\u2019t thought about those two games at all,\u201d Allan said after pulling the strings smartly in the 38-17 win. \u201cBuilding up to this, we had a block of games prior to these two games coming up which ends now with the Uruguay game. Obviously we\u2019ve been looking at New Zealand during their games a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are confident. Both games are going to be tough but we\u2019ve got belief. We\u2019ve shown that we can beat some of the top teams in the world if we stick to our gameplan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this game has helped a lot with the confidence as well. We can play different styles. Before, we were always trying to play out the back and then play wide; today we went a bit more direct. I think it will give a lot of confidence to the group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allan started Italy\u2019s opening win against Namibia at full back, but was deployed at 10 against Los Teros, operating again in a play-making partnership with Paolo Garbisi, who moved to inside centre.<\/p>\n
The pair were instrumental as Italy opened up after half-time having had two players sin-binned in quick succession as Uruguay surged into a significant lead at the break.<\/p>\n
Allan was among those to take control on the pitch and feels some wise words from coach Crowley also helped Italy secure victory.<\/p>\n
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Italy scored 31 unanswered points in the second half as Uruguay faded <\/p>\n
\u201cWe came out to put on a show,\u201d the fly-half, who has switched Harlequins for Perpignan this summer, explained. \u201cEven after what happened in the first half, we knew we were going to bounce back. Playing with 13 men was never going to be easy but we were quite calm at halftime.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI just tried to say not to panic. We defended for almost 10 minutes with 13 men and they just scored the try at the end of those 10 minutes. I was trying to tell the boys: \u2018remain calm, we can do this. They\u2019ve only scored one try, it\u2019s not the end of the world\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cKieran gave us a few gameplan changes that we followed and the game worked out perfectly. We didn\u2019t play our usual rugby, we went a bit more direct. I think it shows a lot of maturity in the team. A lot of Italian teams back in the day might have crumbled under this, but we just believed we could go out there in the second half and put on a show, which is what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n