Italy National Rugby Union Team

The history of rugby union in Italy dates all the way back to 1911, but the national team didn’t play their first competitive game until 1929, when they lost 0-9 against Spain. Only five years later, Italy became a founding member of FIRA, who are now known as Rugby Europe.

Following the end of World War Two, rugby gained prominence in the country and the Italy national rugby union team improved quickly throughout the 1970s and 80s. During this period, several Italian stars emerged and the team began to face high-class opponents like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  

Towards the turn of the millennium, the Italy national rugby union team began to perform well in the Rugby World Cup (although they never got past the pools stage) and began to regularly beat opposition in the Rugby Europe Championship. When the side began to beat teams in the Five Nations Championship, there was a clamour for them to join an expanded competition so the Italian team could test themselves against the best on a regular basis.

The Italy national rugby union team finally joined the competition in 2000. However, the delays meant that the side lost many of their best players before joining. Since, Italy have struggled in the Six Nations Championship and they’ve never won the tournament. However, they have won several games against tier-one opponents like Wales, Ireland and South Africa in recent years. To date, they’ve recorded victories against all their opponents in the Six Nations except England.