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Interview with Italy U18s rugby coach, Roberto Santamaria

After a scintillating away victory in England last month, we spoke to the coach of the victorious Italian U18 national rugby team, Roberto Santamaria

Roberto, tell us about your first experiences of sport and of rugby, in particular.

As a child I had lots of oppurtunities, playing popular sports in Italy like basketball, volleyball, football, table tennis and even karate. I finally found the sport that was right for me when I was about 11 years old. That’s when I started playing rugby, all thanks to some local club coaches coming into my school and taking a single PE lesson. From there, I never looked back, and I have since played for many teams in Italy as well as in England, turning my passion into my profession.

Let's talk now about your experience as a coach. When did you start coaching and how useful was your experience as a professional player in Italy and England?

I started coaching when I was 18, I was very young and playing for Rugby Viadana. From that time onwards I have always coached the youth teams at whichever club I was playing for, from Under 6s up to Under 18s as well as women’ teams. In my time as a player in England I was also part of the coaching staff at Doncaster Colts as well as for the Yorkshire Select team that competed in the County Championship. As a young coach, I was still playing so I enjoyed sharing what I was learning each week and then passing on my passion and my rugby philosophy to the younger teams wherever I played.

For me, coaching is not just about the technical and tactical content of a session, but above all about the human experience, about the way of living your life though rugby, and bringing the shared values of rugby into daily life. Certainly, the experience I had of playing top level rugby helped me maximise my knowledge of the game, but more than that, it shaped my philosophy thanks to the various influences and philosophies from different coaches from New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland, Wales, Italy and France.

As a result of it all, I have really tried to look back at all the different knowledge that has been imparted to me, striving to pass this on as well as continuing to develop my own coaching philosophy, all so that I can reach the point of coaching the most effective rugby possible and helping players on my team to reach their maximum potential.

Did you have any particular influence in your learning process as a coach?

I have had some important experiences and every single coach has passed on to me some useful lessons. One major influence was Rowland Philips, then coach of Aironi, who helped me at a turning point in my playing career and increased my knowledge of the game. He helped me immerse myself more fully in the game so that as well as improving technically, the emotional aspects that influenced my performance were managed much better and my all-round game began to improve consistently.

When I was a much more mature player, I learned a lot from Former Benetton coach, Kieran Crowley. He had an ability to manage the group, the team environment as well as the organization around the team. This ability to manage and control the team environment is something that I aspire to replicate as a coach.

Having worked a lot with young people both in Italy and in England, can you give us your impressions on the differences between these two countries at youth level?

In England I saw a greater ability of the players to learn and implement what I was coaching, as often whatever I introduced in training was something that they might have seen or experienced before. As a result, the learning phase was faster. Whereas in Italy it’s normal for a child to learn football skills at an early age and to master a round ball, in England it’s as likely that a child will have been brought up passing and kicking an oval ball. However, the real advantage is the knowledge and school culture of rugby that exists in England.

As the coach of a national youth team, can you tell us what are the most important aspects in selecting a player in your opinion?

It is a very difficult job as you need to understand the potential of each player. It is also tough to exclude someone, because you are dealing with the ambitions and aspirations of young adults. The general standard of youth rugby has increased greatly and so we are now looking at the finest details to inform our selection process. In terms of the potential of each player, we create pathways in which all the players of interest are involved, monitored and tracked, so they have numerous opportunities to be reselected. From year to year there are players who make massive improvements, so the base of players we monitor is kept as wide as possible all the way up to the under 20s.

Can you tell us about how you were able to work in youth rugby last season even though Covid meant that the leagues never took place?

Personally, I feel very lucky because working with the Italian academy, we created a sort of mini bubble that allowed us to work. The boys kept up their schoolwork via distance learning and, thanks to periodic testing, we were able to guarantee as normal an activity as possible. Of course, one very important component was missing; competition. As a result, there was an additional commitment on our part to keep the motivation of the players high, and eager to play and not just train.

However, I believe that rugby has been deeply affected by the pandemic, as the post-match social is an important aspect for the team. The clubs and federation in Italy have made enormous efforts to keep the passion for our sport alive. The lesson to be learned is that there will always be difficulties and situations that are not ideal, however we must still make the most out of the situations in which we find ourselves.

With so many good coaches in Italy, youth rugby is certainly in rude health, can you tell us your opinion on what the future might bring?

As I mentioned just now, I believe that it is crucial for the Italian federation and all Italian rugby clubs to create programmes that motivate players and give them a chance to train and play. We will be stronger than before if we are able to convey a positive message to a generation of players that, due to lockdowns, were isolated at home, on their PC, mobile phone or watching TV. The message must be to play sport and make friends, to make them aware of how important it is to be social, to have new experiences on a daily basis, to dream and to have ambitions to aspire to.

Read more about Itly Under 18's victory against England online by visiting https://www.italy24news.com/News/166954.html (extrenal site)

Published: Tuesday 28 September 2021