There has always been an enchantment about brothers lining out beside each other on national teams. The notion of blood ties, sacrifice and togetherness that is closer than even that of a tight-knit Six Nations Championship side brings its own energy and emotion. It’s a powerful image.
In the Irish team, family connections have never been in short supply. Too many to list, the most recent have been Harry and Ross Byrne and before that Rob and Dave Kearney going back to the Wallace brothers, Richie, Paul and David.
But brothers as the starting playmakers took a twist last weekend in Rome, when the Italian team to face England provided the closely shared environment of the halfback line for outhalf Paolo and scrumhalf Alessandro Garbisi.
They may again be the starting pairing when Italy arrives in the Aviva Stadium for their second game of the Six Nations Championship against Ireland on Sunday.
For new coach, the urbane Gonzalo Quesada, it was his first Italian team selection and the brothers’ first ever start in a Test match, one that began and ended well but had a soft second half that allowed England to win by three points, 27-24.
While it was sour for Italy to fall to their 31st straight defeat to England, it was sweet for the Italians that they outscored England three tries to two, posted their most points ever against England, and lost by the narrowest margin ever. Italy also made six line breaks to England’s four.
It was also a game where Alessandro had his name beside the first try, when centre Juan Ignacio Brex broke and number eight Niccolò Cannone bullocked down the middle of the Stadio Olimpico to send the younger brother in for his score.
Not to be out done, later in the match Italy caught the English defence narrow. This time Paolo doubled round Brex as Tommaso Allan played a one-two with Tommaso Menoncello for a wonderful Italian score from their own half.
The two have always played rugby with 21-year-old Alessandro, who plays with Benetton, two years younger than Paolo, who plays his club rugby in France with Montpellier.
From the town of Martellago a little north of Venice, the two grew up around the Mogliano club but rarely played on the same team. That changed last March in Romania, when the then 20-year-old Alessandro earned his first cap and first try against Romania.
Late in the game Paolo came off the bench for his 20th cap at inside centre, finally uniting the two at Test level. Interviewed by website Rugby World last year Paolo spoke of the possibility of an enhanced level of understanding if they get pitch time together at international level.
“With me being two years older, I’ve always done things that little bit earlier than Ale, so we’d never played in the same team before that day in Bucharest,” said Paolo.
“I was super happy that day, first of all because it was Ale’s debut. I was happy that he had managed to reach that objective, because I had seen how hard he had worked for many years to get there.
“We didn’t really manage to play properly together because I came on at 12. We were on the pitch together for a few minutes, so we don’t know yet if we will have a special bond in the way we play because we haven’t actually really done it yet. In fact, you need to speak to Kieran Crowley [former Italian coach] and tell him to play us at nine and 10 in the Six Nations.”
Crowley departed after the World Cup. But Quesada was listening. Although Alessandro left the field against England in the second half for the Welsh-born Gloucester number nine Stephen Varney, Italy took plenty away from the meeting, enough at least for Quesada to decide what halfback combination will best challenge Ireland’s Jack Crowley and Jamison Gibson-Park.
The brothers are the first in their family to play rugby but not the only ones involved in sport. Mother Francesca was a regional swimming champion but it was football, basketball and rugby that occupied most of her sons’ time. Alessandro was still attending school when Paolo caught the attention of then coach Franco Smith.
After only two appearances in the Pro14 for Benetton, he was trusted with the outhalf position for Italy’s delayed matches in the 2020 Six Nations and played well in both, one of them away to Ireland. He has been ever-present as Italian pivot under Smith, Crowley and now Quesada.
“The only thing which is for me not negotiable is that we want to be better,” said Quesada following the England game. “We want to play better rugby than we did today. Because we know that we can be better. This is not an excuse, but it’s the reality. We prepared for the game with basically two training sessions last week and just one more week of preparation leading into this afternoon.
“The first goal is to improve as we are going to play in a much tougher environment in Dublin against an Ireland team that scored 40 points against France. England made us play their game, the game they wanted in the second half. But apart from that, I’m completely confident in the team after today’s game.”
It sounds promising for Sunday. Brothers in the arms of Quesada.
