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About Italy
If you think about sport in Italy, your first thoughts will automatically stray to football with fanatically supported teams in cities such as Milan, Naples and Rome. However Italian rugby union is well established and competes at the very highest level of the sport. The British influence was critical in getting rugby going in Italy with local communities introducing rugby to Genoa between 1890 and 1895, with other games following elsewhere in Italy around 1909.
The small country towns in the Po Valley and other parts of Northern Italy proved the traditional heartland of the Italian game. It was thought that Italian workers returning from France, particularly the south, were responsible for introducing the game making it of interest to a working class base, which can still be found in places such as Treviso and Rovigo.
It was not until the last three decades of the twentieth century that the Italian game rose to new heights. An influx of money into rugby, assisted by tax concessions, allowed for the hiring of foreign coaches. Gradually the scores in matches against touring teams started to improve and recognition came when in 1987 the Federation that ruled Italian rugby joined the International Rugby Board (IRB), now known as World Rugby. Also in 1987, Italy competed in the first Rugby World Cup and a year later played their first Test against a Home Nation.
The biggest jump forward cane in 2000 when Italy joined what was the Five Nations’ Championship to make it into the Six Nations. In the sixteen years in which Italy has competed in this very intense tournament, the side has frequently been the whipping boy for the other five nations. The greatest success in the Six Nations to date has been fourth places in 2007 and 2013. It is a sad fact that despite all the exposure to high quality rugby in the shape of the Six Nations, Italy’s progress has been very limited. However two encouraging results in recent years have been two victories over France and one over Ireland.
Nonetheless some fine players have worn the light blue jersey that marks the Italian side. Sergio Parisse can lay claim to be one of the best no 8s to play international rugby. Parisse has always stood out, particularly in adversity, as a player whose skill under the most extreme pressure holds good. Marcello Cuttitta is Italy’s highest try scorer, playing on the wing 54 times and scoring 25 tries. Fly half Diego Domínguez holds the record for the total number of points scored and in fact he is one of only five players to have scored over 1,000 points in 74 matches.
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