Italy coach hails greatest win

Italian coach Carlo Napolitano claimed that this was the biggest win in the history of Italian Rugby League.

The Italians followed up their drawn series against Lebanon with a 13-6 victory over a youthful Wales side at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham on Wednesday night.

“To say that it was our biggest win ever is pretty accurate,” he said. “I know that Iestyn made a fair few changes in preparation for the European Cup but a win against Wales is a massive win, whatever team they put out. It’s a significant scalp. A great effort by all the boys, they were magnificent today and did a great job.

“There’s a lot of passion in our side, they’re all very proud Italians. We had some Australians in our side but we had a fair few from the domestic competition in Italy too. We had a domestic competition and a talent ID pool and selected the best possible players who we thought could cut the mustard against Wales. It was great to see them on the field, at least three of them had only played half a dozen Rugby League games in their life. I’m proud of them all.”