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Rugby Union

Italy coach to quit after World Cup

17/04/2007

Italian rugby union head coach Pierre Berbizier will leave his post after this year's rugby union World Cup in France, according to the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR).

Berbizier has overseen a major progression for Italian rugby this season, with two consecutive wins in the Six Nations tournament for the first time since their entrance in 2000.

The side also won their first match away from home in the competition with a 37-17 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield, but now Berbizier is keen to return to his native France.

With current France coach Bernard Laporte also planning to quit his post after the World Cup, Berbizier's move home is being seen by many as a posturing for consideration for a coaching role with his home nation.

"Pierre Berbizier has expressed his desire to return to France at the end of his contract," the FIR said in a statement.

"The president, Giancarlo Dondi, expressed his heartfelt thanks for the job the coach has done up to now and said he was sure this would continue until the World Cup."

Berbizier took over the running of the Italian national side when New Zealand-born John Kirwan was sacked in 2005.

The Frenchman's pedigree as a coach was first established in the mid-1990s when he was on the coaching staff for the national side as France reached the semi-finals of the 1995 World Cup in South Africa and won two successive Five Nations titles in 1996 and 1997.

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