Italy play their home games in strip comprising blue shirts. They remain the struggling side of the six nations though John Kirwin their Kiwi coach brought respectability with some home wins, this momentum has been maintained by the Frenchman Pierre Berbizier who took them to the 2007 RWC in his home nation France. Some of the best known of their players to pull on the blue shirt are; Mauro Bergamasco, Cristian Stoica, Alessandro Troncon, Aaron Persico and Mirco Bergamasco.
2016/17 Home Shirt £60.00 from Lovell Rugby |
2016/17 Alternate Shirt £60.00 from Lovell Rugby |
FIR Away Shirt 2015 White £45.50 from Kitbag |
The Italian Rugby Federation was founded in 1928 and thus is one of the younger of the international sides. they played their first international fixture in 1929 when they lost to Spain 9-0. Italy joined the big boys of Europe when they created the six nations by joining England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales in 2000, though they still struggle to compete on a consistent basis, they are now an integral part of the competition. Italy who are known as the Azzuri play their home games at; Stadio Flaminio, Via Stadio Flaminio, Rome. It is one of the smaller world venues but has a fantastic atmosphere and has a reputation for providing a great experience.
1987Italy had the honour of playing in the first ever World Cup match, when they met hosts New Zealand in the opening encounter of the 1987 tournament. Unfortunately for the Italians the home-side were in red-hot form, thrashing the visitors 70-6, with All Black winger John Kirwan Who would later coach the Italian national side) scoring one of the most famous tries in World Cup history when he ran the length of the field, stepping his way through the majority of the Italian team to score. They were competitive in their next match, losing 25-16 to Argentina, and on the back of that encouraging performance recorded their first win in the World Cup in their final outing of the competition, beating Fiji 18-15 at Dunedin's Carisbrook. | 2003The Italians, under the guidance of former All Black John Kirwan, starting the 2003 Six Nations with a startling upset over Wales in Rome, before losing the remainder of their games. But that victory was enough to lift them off the bottom of the final standings and would have given them confidence heading in to the World Cup in Australia later that year, where they were drawn in the same pool as the Welsh. They were soundly beaten by the All Blacks in their first outing of that tournament, before recording a solid win over Tonga and snatching victory from the Canadians. In their final game of the comeptition they were unable to repeat their performance from earlier in the year, losing 27-15 to the Welsh and bowing out of the tournament. | ||
2007Coached by former French star Pierre Berbizier the Italians enjoyed a fantastic year in 2007, finishing a highly credible fourtth in the Six Nations on the back of wins over Scotland and Wales. Italy's group for the 2007 World Cup in France later that year consisted of New Zealand, Scotland, Romania and Portugal. They were soundly beaten by the All Blacks before comfortably accounting for the Romanians and the Portrugese, setting up an 'all-or-nothing' game against the Scots for a spot in the Quarter Finals. The Italians came agonisingly close to graudating from pool play at a world cup for the first time in their history, eventually losing by just two points, 18-16. | 2008Following an encouraging year in 2007 the Italians welcomed former Springbok coach Nick Mallet in to the head job, but his tenure in charge got off to a rocky start in the 2008 Six Nations. Edged by Ireland in the opening game and falling just short of beating England for the first time ever the following week they were then hammered 47-8 by eventual competition winners Wales in Cardiff. Their fourth successive defeat came at the hands of the French in their next game before they salvaged some pride in their final outing, beating the Scots 23-20 in Rome. It was too little, too late though, as Mallett's side dropped from fourth the previous year to dead last on the Six Nations table. | ||
2010Italy, with former Australian Rugby League player Criag Gower playing at flyhalf, opened their 2010 Six Nations campaign with a 29-11 loss to Ireland in Dublin. They bounced back the following week, performing well in a 17-12 loss to England in Rome, before continuing their improvement to secure a win over Scotland in their next outing. That improvement was short-lived though as they crashed back to earth against France in Paris, losing 46-20 before being thumped 33-10 by Wales in the last week of play. | 2011There were encouraging signs as Italy opened their 2011 Six Nations campaign with a narrow 13-11 loss to Ireland, but inconsistent form saw them record just one win, albeit the major scalp of France. For the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later than year they were drawn in a challenging group alongside Australia, Ireland, Russia and the USA. Comfortably beaten by the Wallabies in their first match they got their campaign back on track with wins over Russia and USA, but were unable to lift for the all-important game against Ireland, crashing out of the tournament with a 36-6 loss. | ||
2012Comprehensively beaten by France in the opening game of the 2012 Six Nations the Italians came oh-so-close yet again to beating the English the following week in Rome, falling short to lose 19-15. They were then thumped 42-10 by Ireland and 23-3 by Wales, setting up a clash for the wooden spoon against Scotland in the final round. They got their only win of the tournament in that match, winning 13-6 and finishing 5th overall. Later in the year they played well against the All Blacks, despite the score ballooning somewhat in the dying stages, and were desperately unlucky not to record an historic win over the Wallabies, being denied late in the game in Rome. |