Italy

The Italian rugby union team - also referred to as 'the Azzurri' (the Blues) - started competing in the 1920s, but only really came to the attention of the wider rugby world in 2000 when their acceptance to the Five Nations competition helped create the Six Nations Championship.

Early doubters, fuelled by some humbling Italian defeats in the early editions of this new tournament, have now been silenced, with the Azzurri having since made their home ground in Rome something of a fortress, as well as adding a number of notable away scalps to their collection.

In 1999, the year before they joined England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France in the premier Northern Hemisphere rugby competition, Italy suffered the worst defeat in their history when they were crushed by a score of 101-0 against then-reigning world champions South Africa, but since that darkest of days, their progress has been astounding.

Accumating just three wins from their opening six Six Nations Championship campaigns, it looked as though Italy were never going to be able to successfully catch up with their more-established European adversaries, but 2006 saw a change in fortune with five credible performances, including their first point away from home when they drew with Wales in Cardiff. 

2007 saw another Italian first: back-to-back wins against Scotland and Wales, and this was followed up in 2012 when they finished fourth overall, only behind third-placed Scotland on points difference. 

Italy have also competed in every World Cup since 1987, but are yet to progress past the group stage, and this will certainly be the next stage on which the Azzurri will seek to be tested as they continue with their development.

At the last three tournaments, they have performed respectably, but never looked in danger of causing an upset, each time winning two and losing two of their four pool fixtures - and in 2011, wins against USA and Russia were not enough to see them progress at the expense of either Ireland or Australia.

Despite association football remaining as the country's national sport, the future looks bright for Italian rugby. Certainly a strong showing on the world stage would help to tip the balance in the future, but with legends of the game such as Allessandro Troncon, Ramiro Pez, Mirco Bergamasco and Andrea Lo Cicero all having retired without obvious like-for-like replacements, as well as Gonzalo Canale, Martin Castrogiovanni, Sergio Parisse, and Mauro Bergamasco coming towards the twilight years of their careers, a transitional stage may first have to be negotiated.

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