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Benetton have looked internally for their new head coach, with defence coach Calum McRae announced this week as Marco Bortolami’s replacement when the former Italy captain leaves a year ahead of schedule at the end of the season.
MacRae, a former Edinburgh, and Worcester Warriors player has been in north-east Italy as a coach since 2022. He also played in Venice towards the end of his career.
The 45-year-old later coached with Newcastle Falcons, Edinburgh, and Scotland 7s before taking Bortolami’s call. Like Benetton’s current boss, MacRae will move up from assistant, as Bortolami did when he took over from Kieran Crowley in 2021.
MATCHING THE BEST
Bortolami’s departure slipped out during the men’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations, so didn’t really gain much publicity, at least in English-speaking circles.
He certainly won’t be without suitors after taking the Treviso-based side to their most successful period since they joined the Celtic League in 2010.
They reached the play-offs in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and progressed to the Challenge Cup semi-finals for the first time, while players such as Tommaso Menoncello, Michele Lamaro, and Juan Brex have showed they can match the best in an Italy shirt.
Furthermore, he speaks fluent English from his time with Gloucester, and French having played for Narbonne.
FUTURE ITALY COACH?
Bortolami has admitted that he would be interested in the Italy head coach after the next World Cup, presuming that the incumbent Gonzalo Quesada follows the trend of a four-year cycle in the post.
Andrea Moretti is the current Italy forwards coach, but even if the role were open would Bortolami want to go in as an assistant?
Of greater importance to Quesada is the effect the change might have on the Azzurri players. While Menoncello and Brex matched their efforts of 2024, Lamaro was off-form. The forward pack lacked any snarl on occasions and the defence leaked 29 tries, the most in the tournament.
Like Italy, Benetton have slipped back. They are out of the Challenge Cup, and two places and two points outside the URC play-offs, though they still have five matches to play.
If MacRae, and his background as a defence coach, can help turn Benetton’s fortunes around, then Italy are likely to reap the benefit. Whether Bortolami is part of that Italy set-up remains to be seen, but the legacy he has built in Treviso gives MacRae plenty of reasons to be optimistic when he sits in the big seat.