THERE is nothing quite like an Italian Press conference for chaos and last night didn't disappoint.

In fact, it descended into the utter bedlam I had predicted to a colleague, with Press assembled from all over the world, the language problem and the excitable Italian character.

The Tongan conference had set the tone with coach Jim Love twice interrupted as he was answering questions by his mobile phone going off to the accompaniment of music.

But that was as nothing as the Italians got under way as only they can. After just one question, their media manager, the one who had been involved in a car crash the other day, vented his anger on the Australian interpreter, who appeared a bit hesitant over the translation and was promptly dismissed by the aforesaid Italians to her and our embarrassment.

It was all downhill after that as the Australian media manager in overall charge tried to restore order and get questions asked and answered.

Questions from Italians, happy at their victory, came from all over the room in no particular order, and the harassed media man sometimes got the answer wrong as he, too, spluttered with the translation.

But out of the chaos stepped one remarkable man - Italian coach John Kirwan, the former great New Zealand wing who has been coach for the past two years. He has lived in Italy for 15 years, is married to an Italian and has merged the two cultures extremely well.

An oasis of calm amid all the chaos around him, he dealt with everything. Not content with being coach, he also acted as interpreter, translator, middle-man and just about everything else.

He was impressive enough after Italy's Six Nations triumph over Wales, using the Italian passion with the directness of a Kiwi. If the WRU don't appoint a Welshman as their next coach - and they should - then Kirwan is surely their man.

* Gwent so nearly had another player involved in the World Cup - and a Tongan at that. For a member of their squad and a replacement late in the game against Italy was Anthony Alatini, who played in Gwent last season.

A scan through the programme revealed that Alatini's club was Blackwood! He played for them in the then First Division, but further investigation revealed he has now returned to New Zealand, having moved to Tonga at the age of 12.

* Headlines every day on the front page of the Canberra daily paper surround the official inquiry into the fires which devastated the area in January. Four people were killed, 491 homes destroyed, the countryside devastated and damaged caused approaching the billion dollar mark.