The View From Italy: Bortolami prepares banana skin for France

Beware the ides of February, as the Romans might have put it. First up for France, the defending champions, is a visit to the Stadio Flaminio where, famously, Scotland and Wales have been given the thumbs down. The French are not expected to suffer a similar public humiliation, but they will have to be on their guard.

Italy are usually a safe bet to finish the Six Nations with the wooden spoon. They did so again last season, although with the rub of the green it might have been a different story. They pushed Ireland all the way in Dublin, gave England a scare in Rome, drew with Wales in Cardiff and lost to Scotland by three points. Under the regime of the former France scrum-half Pierre Berbizier, who took over from the ex-All Black John Kirwan, there is evidence that Italy have to be taken seriously wherever they play.

"I think it will be very interesting against France," Marco Bortolami, their captain, said. "It will need a great performance from everyone but we have got a good chance. It could be a turning point for us. We are always at our best in the first game of the tournament. That's when we are fresh and free of injuries. We have a small pool of top players and usually find it hard to maintain a high level of performance.

"Last year we didn't win but went close, and it was another experience for us. There is not a big gap between winning and losing and we understand what we have to do. We have to take every opportunity and make the right decisions. We have to make the opposition play every single second of the match. If we can use our experience from the English Premiership and the French championship, the two best competitions in Europe, this could be our time."

The paradox is that Italy's strength lies in the weakness of the Italian game. No fewer than 17 members of the national squad play for clubs in England and France, where the standard is considerably higher than the 10-club domestic championship. With players such as Bortolami and Carlos Nieto (both Gloucester), Mauro and Mirco Berga-masco (Stade Français), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester), Andrea Masi (Biarritz), Fabio Ongaro (Saracens), Sergio Parisse (Stade Français) and Marko Stanojevic (Bristol), Italy can compete. Their clubs, as witnessed by their wipeout in the Heineken Cup, cannot.

Bortolami, who is 26, began playing in his home town of Padova, where he made his debut in the second row as a teenager. He captained the Italy Under-21 side, made his senior debut in 2001 and at the age of 22, against New Zealand, became Italy's youngest captain.

The Azzurri's finest tend to migrate. "It would be nice to return home and raise standards but it's not easy," Bortolami said. "Clubs in Italy are not going in the right direction. I'm not saying they're not doing their best, but tough decisions have to be made. We have to rebuild every five years and that's tough. Like Wales and Ireland, Italy need to concentrate on four teams. With more quality rugby it would be better for everyone. At the moment there are not the right conditions to attract young people to the game. Maybe after the World Cup we can go back and help to find a solution. Right now that's not my job."

Bortolami moved to Kingsholm last summer after two seasons with Narbonne. "Gloucester wasn't my first choice, but when I met Dean Ryan I realised he was doing something special. He also knew everything about me. The early part was critical. I'm always scared - 'Am I going to make the team?' - but it's been great for me. It's everything I was looking for. Dean cares about the players and he can get the best from them. He has this image of being a hard man but he has sensibility.

"It's strange because he is so similar to John Kirwan in many ways. They have the same attitude. I thank John for having the biggest influence on my career. I learnt a lot and I'm learning more at Gloucester. I keep in touch with John but I have to be careful. It's difficult to talk about him because people think I don't like Berbizier. It's not so. They're both great coaches."

The best-coached side in the Six Nations last season? According to Brian Ashton, Italy.