Reflections of a stormy petrel

Thank you, but what honks me off is that in soccer, we are South Africa. Or the All Blacks. We are the best, with a tradition of victories and the self-belief to go with it. Or we ought to be. Unfortunately, one feature of the national character is to fear more the intrigues of colleagues than the guns of the enemy, and to spend more time trying to protect your position against your own colleagues than getting ready to fight opponents. Any time there is a disaster in Italian history, you may take it from me, it is because the general or manager in charge was more afraid of losing his post to some rival than of losing the battle. And the regularity is that he loses both. Donadoni, the overpromoted manager whose timidity caused the current disaster, has just been sacked. The difference is that Italy's Rugby players have nothing to lose.